


worship me like there are no gods

by DragonsAndCryptids



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anyways, Demons, F/F, Fluff, Halloween, Pining, Urban Fantasy, Witchcraft, and tender, enjoy my fic about these fucking LESBIANS, like so fucking gay, maybe some hozier vibes lmao, there will be some religious imagery but look it happens, this is so gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:01:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 26,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27096985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonsAndCryptids/pseuds/DragonsAndCryptids
Summary: Erza has the brilliant idea to try reaching out to the higher powers of the world. Unfortunately, it doesn't go as planned, and she ends up with a demon that refuses to leave her alone and an obsession with her soul.Mirajane had never sensed a more perfect soul reaching out to her, and nothing could have prepared her for the magnificent witch that it belonged to. However, she can't even begin to understand the things she feels for Erza, or why she can't just leave her alone.
Relationships: Erza Scarlet/Mirajane Strauss, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 82





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally, this was just supposed to be a Halloween one-shot, buuuuut, as often happens, it got away from me (and I totally just fell in love with the idea). So now it's going to be a few chapters, but probably not *super* long (we'll see). It's going to be told through Mirajane and Erza's POVs, but a lot of other characters will have pretty major roles. Anyways, I hope you enjoy!

“I don’t want to live in a fucking Spirit Halloween, you guys,” Kagura complained, glaring at them from her spot in the center of the living room floor, surrounded by the various herbs she was jamming into jars. 

“Boo hoo, too fucking bad,” Ultear said over her shoulder, before slamming a black cat sticker onto the window. “I get an employee discount there, so hell fucking yeah I’m using it. Besides, we waited until October, you’re not allowed to complain.” 

Kagura rolled her eyes. “There’s a difference between gothic and tacky.” 

Another Halloween-themed sticker joined the cat on the window with a  _ slap _ , a cute, little ghost this time. “Well maybe I’m aiming for both,” Ultear refuted. 

“Erza!” Kagura exclaimed, gesturing wildly between the redhead and Ultear, who was offering Kagura the smuggest grin Erza had ever seen. 

Erza held her hand over her mouth, trying to hide the smile tugging at her lips. Her roommates had had the exact same argument last year. Ultear always wanted to go all out with the Halloween decorations, while Kagura barely wanted to tolerate a few jack-o-lanterns on their little balcony. And just like last year, Erza agreed with Ultear. She  _ loved _ Halloween. 

And besides, what kind of witches would they be if they didn’t go all out? 

Kagura jabbed her finger towards Ultear when Erza refused to back her up. “You better not get  _ any _ of that near my altar!” 

“Please, Kagura, as if I’d ever do that,” Ultear said. “I would never disrespect Artemis in such a way.” 

Kagura narrowed her eyes. “Mmhm…” 

“I wouldn’t!” Ultear shouted, finally turning away from the window that was almost completely covered in stickers now. 

Erza sighed and tuned out the two bickering roommates, giving her full attention back to the old grimoire Levy had let her borrow. Unlike Ultear and Kagura, Erza hadn’t connected well with a specific deity yet (she honestly wasn’t even sure if she wanted to), but they had convinced her to at least  _ try _ reaching out to one, so she was brushing up on those types of spells and communication techniques. Her plan was to try contacting a higher power tonight. Maybe not necessarily a god, not yet, but  _ something.  _

“Do you want some help with that spell you’re planning, Erza?” Kagura asked. “I wouldn’t advise doing something like that on your own.” 

Erza hummed. She knew Kagura was probably right. She’d never attempted anything like this before, but… “No, I’ll be alright. I feel like this is something I need to do myself. And if I really need to, I could ask Gray or Natsu.” 

The other woman rolled her eyes. “Your idiot coven would just get in the way.” 

Erza chuckled and shook her head. “I know they can be… a little much for you, but they really are amazing witches.” 

Kagura raised an eyebrow. “Sure.” 

Ultear used Kagura’s distraction to creep over and hang a black, sparkly wreath, covered in tiny skeletons and jack-o-lanterns on the door. She winked at Erza as she did so. 

“I’m studying before I try it tonight,” Erza promised. “It’s not like I’m going into this blind.” 

_ “Tonight!?” _ Ultear and Kagura demanded in unison. 

“Uh…” Erza set the book down on the coffee table, which had been covered in fake spiderwebs. “Y-Yeah? Is there something wrong with that?” 

“We’re going on a double date with Meredy and Milliana,” Ultear said. “They’re having horror movie night at the drive-in.” 

“Yes, you shouldn’t try a spell like that without at least  _ someone _ around,” Kagura said with a nod. 

Erza lifted her thumb to her mouth to nibble at the nail. She could admit, that was a little concerning. She would have much preferred to have Kagura or Ultear at least  _ in _ the apartment while she attempted this. Maybe she  _ should _ call Natsu and Gray… But she had been planning this for weeks now, centered around tonight, and she wanted to do it  _ herself. _ “I’ll be okay,” she assured them. “I promise. You know I’m a good witch.” 

“I know you’re a good witch,” Ultear said, the easy mirth and glee vanishing from her expression as she grew serious. “But it’s dangerous to contact anything that you’re not used to.” 

Kagura crossed her arms and nodded in agreement. 

Erza waved them off. “I told you not to worry. Enjoy your dates. And tell Milliana and Meredy I said hello.” 

* * *

“Erza, do I need to come over tonight? Natsu’s working, but I can make it,” Gray said. 

Erza had to bite back a groan.  _ Of course _ Ultear had to tell Gray what she was up to, and that she was going to do it alone. “No, Gray. I’m perfectly capable of doing this myself.” 

Gray sighed, and though it was obvious he tried to disguise the sound by pulling the phone away from his ear, Erza still heard it. 

“What, you think I’m  _ not  _ capable of this?” she asked. Why was everyone so convinced she was biting off more than she could chew? 

“Look, I don’t know  _ much _ about working with deities,” Gray said. “That’s not the kind of magic we  _ do, _ and I’m guessing my sister’s influence is why you even want to try this, but she’s told me enough that I know it can be risky.” 

Erza huffed, getting up from the couch to go rustle through the fridge. Maybe if she found something to eat, she could use that as an excuse to hang up. Ultear and Kagura had already made her twitchy enough about this, she didn’t need Gray adding to those doubts. “And I’ll tell you the same thing I told her, I’m going to be fine.” 

“What the hell is the point in being a coven if we don’t do this kinda shit together?” Gray asked. 

“It’s not like you and Natsu call me every time you attempt some new spell!” she argued. 

“There’s a difference between adding a new type of crystal to a spell we’ve done a thousand times, and you trying to talk to a  _ god,” _ Gray snapped. “What the hell are you  _ thinking?” _

Erza took a deep breath, forcing herself not to rise to the bait. Gray didn’t have the best experiences with summoning, so of course he was going to be worried by her trying this. “Gray, I  _ promise _ that it’s okay,” she told him, keeping her voice calm, steady. “I’ve done a lot of research, and I can back down if it gets to be too much. All I’m doing is feeling out, to see if I even have a connection to this type of magic, alright?” 

Gray was silent for a moment, and Erza might have thought he’d hung up, if it weren’t for the muffled breathing she heard from the other line. “Fine…” he finally muttered. “But you  _ better _ be careful.” 

“Of course, of course, I know,” she said. 

When was she not careful? 

* * *

Erza shoved the clothes piled throughout her bedroom into corners, beneath her bed and dresser, into her closet. She doubted any deity would care about being contacted on top of a bunch of dirty hoodies, but she didn’t want to risk it. She got up to grab her candles, wincing as she stepped on an empty Starbucks coffee cup. She kicked it under the bed, cursing herself for not thinking to clean her room earlier. 

She knew she was stalling. Honestly, the cleanliness of her room didn’t matter. She  _ knew _ that Kagura was living in a pigsty, and she reached out to Artemis fairly often. But she could admit that Kagura, Ultear, and Gray had damaged her confidence. Should she really be trying this? Alone? 

She fell back on her bed, gripping the raggedy quilt as hard as she could. Gray was right. Why did she even  _ want _ to do this? She’d  _ never _ had an interest in communicating and working with higher powers before. “Maybe I shouldn’t…” She glanced over, to stare at the candles and sigils and crystals she’d prepared, and the grimoire laying open on the page she needed. 

“No.” She shook her head. “I’ve come this far. I’ve committed, I’m gonna do it!” 

She shoved the rest of the clothes and trash in her floor out of the way, and went about arranging the candles in a circle and lighting them, placing her personal and protective sigils around her, before sitting down and crossing her legs, delicately placing the grimoire in her lap. “Alright, let’s do this.” 

Kagura and Ultear told her it was all about reaching out, feeling for energies, pretty similarly to how all magic worked, honestly. But rather than sensing for energy and energy alone, grasp at the consciousness existing out there, something that she felt drawn to, that she felt truly  _ connected _ to. 

The grimoire had said similar things, as well as directed her how to create sigils that could help her concentrate her own energy, pin down those exact feelings she was chasing. 

Taking a deep breath, Erza shut her eyes, and threw all caution to the wind, forcing her own energy out as forcefully as she could, as if to scream,  _ Hey! I’m here, if anyone’s listening! Come talk to me!  _

Definitely not the smartest idea, but taking things slowly wasn’t something Erza had ever been very good at. 

Instinctively, she found herself grasping at the energies she normally worked with, rather than searching for new feelings, new presences. But she shook her head, gritting her teeth.  _ No, that’s not what I’m doing. _ This wasn’t a spell, an energy reading, anything like that. This was  _ communication.  _ Erza wasn’t the only one at work here, she needed that other piece, someone else to reach out to her as well. 

“Come on, come on, come on,” she whispered. 

Perhaps it would have been better if she’d actually  _ chosen _ someone to contact, she could have focused her energy with more precision, rather than waiting on someone to speak to her first. 

“I’m here,” she said. “A nice witch, just looking for someone to talk to.” She forced her energy and presence outwards again. 

She felt a little tug, deep in her core, like a thin string had been tied around her very soul, and someone had just yanked on it. 

“Oh!” Erza’s eyes shot open, a small smile forming. “Oh, hello!” She grasped at the energy, letting whoever it belonged to know that she was willing to listen. “Who are you?” 

Soft, delicate laughter echoed through Erza’s head. 

“Okay…” The witch leaned back against her bed. “That’s weird as hell…” She knew that Ultear and Kagura “spoke” with their patrons, but did they mean literally? She’d never thought to ask! 

That tugging in her chest morphed into a vicious yank, and Erza yelped, jerking forward reflexively, though she knew no one had  _ actually _ pulled her forward. “Alright, that’s enough of that.” A small spark of fear flashed through Erza as she felt this presence latching onto her, growing more and more attached, so she snatched up the nearest sigil, tearing the paper it was on. “Goodbye, please go!” 

_ Be polite, be polite, _ she told herself.  _ You don’t want to offend them.  _ She squeezed her eyes shut, willing the smothering presence away.  _ Go, go, go. _ With shaky fingers, she grabbed one of the candles and blew it out, trying to cut off the connection anyway she could think of. 

A heavy presence settled over her, sending an ice cold feeling rushing down her spine, causing her body to shake and tremble uncontrollably. “Oh gods,” she squeaked. “I’m a fucking idiot!” Kagura, Ultear, and Gray were going to  _ kill her.  _ They had warned her,  _ multiple  _ times, not to attempt this by herself, without someone to help her back out when she needed to, because she could  _ sense _ it. Whatever this entity was, it had latched onto her, and even with sigils being ripped, candles being blown out, it wasn’t loosening its hold in the slightest. 

She squeezed her eyes shut.  _ Go, go, go, go. Please go.  _

“Hello!” 

Erza’s eyes popped open, and she squeaked, trying to push herself further back, but she was already pressed against her bed, leaving her nowhere else to go. 

A woman had appeared from nothing, sitting just in front of Erza, leaning so close to her that their noses were nearly touching. 

Though shocked at first, Erza couldn’t help but be enamored by her  _ beauty.  _ Snow white hair tumbled over her shoulders, framing her delicate face, her soft cheeks and jaw. Piercing blue eyes with alluring slit pupils gazed into Erza’s own. Pointed ears jutted out from her gorgeous hair, and a sharp smile spread across her face, so genuine, so  _ happy, _ that the witch scarcely noticed the fangs filling her mouth. 

“You’re beautiful,” Erza breathed, before slapping her hand over her mouth, another muffled squeak escaping her. What was she  _ doing? _ How the hell had she managed to summon something and give it a  _ physical form!?  _

The woman cocked her head, but still didn’t back away. “I felt your soul,” she said, and gods, her voice was the sweetest thing Erza had ever heard, like pure sugar. “I felt your soul, and it felt so  _ right.”  _

The nerves squirming in Erza’s chest refused to settle, despite how much she wanted to trust who this was,  _ what _ this was. She couldn’t forget… that this wasn’t a human, this was something she had summoned, and beauty could be misleading. 

The thing leaned ever closer, her sickly, flowery breath tickling Erza’s nose, as the creature laid her hand on the witch’s chest, her talons digging into the fabric of Erza’s ratty Inuyasha t-shirt. The palm of her hand was so warm, and Erza knew that this being could feel every beat of her heart, even as it accelerated, something akin to fear, but so similar to desire, racing through her. 

“Who are you?” Erza breathed softly, finding herself leaning into that lovely touch, despite her instincts screaming at her to get away from whatever the hell this might be. 

The corner of the creature’s lips twitched. “Who am I?” Her fingers curled, her talons pressing harder against Erza’s skin, but careful enough not to hurt her. “Well, my name is Mirajane.” 

“Mirajane…” Erza said the name slowly, each syllable rolling off her tongue with a hesitance, like she wasn’t sure if that was right. But the name confirmed that this certainly wasn’t any deity, not unless there was an unknown one named  _ Mirajane _ that Erza had never heard of. 

“As for what I am…” She finally pulled her hand back from Erza’s chest, much to the witch’s disappointment. “Perhaps the closest word you have for me is  _ demon.” _

The breath was yanked from Erza’s chest, forcing itself out with a panicked gasp as she shot to her feet, the grimoire tumbling from her lap and to the floor. 

_ Demon. _

Erza had never worked with demons. Quite honestly… she’d never interacted with one personally. The only reason she even believed they existed were thanks to Ultear and Gray’s experiences with them, but somewhere, deep within her soul, she knew the words coming from this being’s mouth were the truth. And if it were true…. Gods, what had Erza  _ done?  _

She’d invited a chaotic, revelry driven creature into her life, allowed her to latch onto her very essence, her  _ soul.  _

The witch covered her mouth with her hands, stumbling backwards and falling onto her bed.  _ Ultear and Kagura were right. I wasn’t  _ ready! 

“Oh!” Mirajane rose with fluid grace, leaning over Erza, pressing her clawed hands onto the bed, on either side of Erza's head, getting so close that her shimmering hair fell over the witch, brushing against her cheeks with a silky softness. “Are you okay?” 

“St-Stay back!” Erza gasped, though she knew it was futile. Why would this demon  _ listen _ to her, now that she’d latched onto Erza, was likely feeding on her energy and essence, to sustain a physical form like this. 

Utter heartbreak flashed across Mirajane’s face. “Back…?” Her eyebrows pinched together in concern. “But your soul…” 

“Don’t touch my soul!” Erza shrieked, shoving the demon back, despite her better judgement. She scrambled away, until her back was pressed against the wall, leaving her nowhere else to flee as her fists clenched handfuls of her quilt. She was wracking her brain, desperately trying to come up with any information on demons that she could, but her mind was terribly blank, refusing to supply anything that might be useful. 

Mirajane fell to the floor, torn up paper sigils crinkling beneath her weight. “Titania?” 

Erza’s eyes went wide. “What did you just say?” 

The demon stared at her, a deep sadness welling in her gaze. “Titania…” 

“How do you know that name?” How could she  _ possibly _ know that name? Only her closest friends knew it, and even then, they rarely used it for her. 

“I felt it, when I felt your soul,” she said, her body twitching, like she wanted to get up, wanted to get closer to Erza again, but was resisting that urge. “It belongs to you, doesn’t it?” 

The witch bit at her lip. “Sort of…” Then she shook her head. What the hell was she  _ doing? _ She needed to be worried about getting  _ rid _ of this demon, not  _ chatting _ with her! “Please go,” she said, as firmly as she could. “I don’t need your help, I don’t wish to make any deals, I don’t want to worship you.” 

“Worship?” Mirajane’s voice dripped with confusion. “You wanted something to worship?” 

“I— No… y-yes—  _ No!  _ No.” Erza continued to shake her head. “Argh, I don’t know, but I didn’t want  _ you!”  _

“You didn’t?” the demon whispered, the heartbreak intensifying again. “But I felt you  _ call, _ I wanted to… I thought…” She turned her head away, letting her hair fall into her gorgeous face, hiding her expression. “I-I’m sorry… I can’t just… go. Not when I…” Her shoulders hunched as she curled into herself, like she wanted to make herself as small and non threatening as possible. “I bound myself to you.” 

“You did  _ what!?” _ Erza demanded. She had no idea what the demon meant, but she doubted a demon  _ binding itself _ to her meant anything  _ good. _

“I just thought…” Mirajane grabbed a lock of her hair, twisting it around her talons. “Your soul seemed…” 

_ “What!?” _ Erza snapped, her patience beginning to wear thin. She didn’t like people who wouldn’t just say what was on their damn minds, and now that the fear and shock was beginning to wear off, she was starting to get a little irritated with this cryptic being. “My soul was  _ what?”  _

“Please…” Mirajane bowed her head, holding her hands out to Erza like she was offering something. “Please, let me stay for a little while. I promise… I promise I will fix it. I swear to you.” 

“Stay?” Erza repeated, growing even more confused. The demon wanted to… stay? For how long? To do  _ what? _

“Please,” the demon pleaded again. 

Erza nearly demanded more explanations, but something stopped her. A slight tug on her heart, as she watched this demon, this supposedly powerful, selfish, evil being, bow down before her, begging for a place to stay, with a desperation like nothing Erza had ever heard before. 

“You can stay.” 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Halloween everyone! I hope everyone has a safe, fun-filled night! :D

Mirajane had never sensed a more perfect soul in her entire life. So powerful, so lovely, so soft. She couldn’t resist it when she felt it calling out, welcoming her. 

She wasn’t prepared for the beautiful witch that it belonged to.  _ Titania, _ she sensed. The name bloomed to life in her mind, and she felt that it must be right. 

Mirajane didn’t know much about humans or witches. She’d rarely interacted with them, only when it was absolutely necessary. Were they all this gorgeous? Or was it just this one? Was it because she needed a vessel just as gorgeous as the soul it contained? 

Scarlet hair, the same shade as fresh blood. Deep, brown eyes that Mirajane felt she could lose herself in. A sharp jaw and thick eyebrows. Mirajane wanted to touch that face, wondering what it would feel like. Was her skin soft? What about her hair? Was she warm? Surely she had to be, burning with such an intensity, something like Mirajane had never seen. 

But Titania did not want her here, so Mirajane had to refrain from touching that face. 

Sure, the witch might have agreed to let her stay for now, but that was only because Mirajane had acted so rashly. 

What had she been  _ thinking? _ Latching her energy onto a witch like this?  _ Bonding _ herself to her? That wasn’t something that could simply be  _ undone, _ and even if it were a possibility… 

“Why do you keep looking at me like that?” Titania asked. She was pressed into the corner, like she wanted to get as far away from Mirajane as she possibly could. 

“I… I don’t know,” Mirajane admitted. There were so many strange feelings flooding through her chest, feelings she couldn’t even begin to decipher. They were not unpleasant feelings, quite the opposite, in fact, and they only intensified when the demon looked at Titania. 

“So… what… did you actually  _ do?” _ Titania asked. “And where did you  _ come _ from?” 

Mirajane hummed, and leaned back against the opposite wall, leaving the whole bedroom to divide her and Titania. “You called out, so I answered.”  _ That _ was what confused her. Why would Titania call for her, if she didn’t want Mirajane here? 

“I know  _ that,” _ Titania said, a bit of irritation bleeding into her voice. “I meant… What did you mean by  _ bonding? _ Like… like you said you were bonded to me. And I don’t get… I mean, yes, yes I believe in supernatural beings, but you… Not like  _ this.”  _

Mirajane looked down at her hands, before slowly flexing her fingers, one by one. This wasn’t the first time she’d had a physical form, but it was the first time it had felt so…  _ permanent, _ so secure. Just how powerful was Titania? How deep did their connection run? “I don’t normally have a physical form like this. Most of the time, I’m merely an energy.” 

“A bad energy,” Titania interrupted. “Demonic energy.” 

“I-I suppose so,” Mirajaned admitted, letting her hands fall into her lap and looking up at Erza. “I sustain myself by… by latching myself onto others when necessary, and it’s easiest with those that unknowingly invite me to, or who are significantly weakened, physically or mentally. It’s… It’s almost always unwilling.” 

Titania hummed, her eyes narrowing. “Hence why you called yourself a demon.” 

Mirajane nodded. “It seems to be the most accurate descriptor I’ve come across.” 

“And this is what you’ve done to me? Latched onto me?” she asked. 

“I’m sorry,” Mirajane apologized again. “Your soul… I just sensed it calling out, and you were so perfect, I assumed it meant you wanted me to and I— I acted rashly. But it’s different with you. You were willing, and I didn’t just latch myself onto your energy like I normally would. I… well I… our souls are bonded together.” 

Titania hunched over and put her head in her hands. “Oh gods, Kagura and Ultear are going to  _ murder me.” _

Mirajane gasped and jumped to her feet, holding her fists up. “They will not! I’ll protect you!” 

Titania looked back up, one eyebrow raised. “I wasn’t serious. The worst they’re going to do is bitch.” 

“Oh…” Mirajane slowly lowered her fists, and stared at the ground, heat flushing across her face. “I’ll— I’ll still protect you though.” 

The witch scoffed and turned away. “I don’t need to be protected.” 

Mirajane worried her lip, focusing on the sharp pin pricks of pain that accompanied her fangs digging into the skin. Of course, she believed this witch about not needing to be protected, but there had to be  _ something _ Mirajane could do to make up for this mistake. “I apologize again, Titania,” the demon said, bowing her head. “I should not have bonded myself to you so thoroughly without your clear consent.” 

“Erza,” the witch said. 

“Huh?” 

“My name is Erza. Don’t call me Titania.” She took a deep breath, a tiredness in her voice that Mirajane couldn’t begin to understand. “I don’t go by that name.” 

“I’m sorry,” Mirajane said, grabbing handfuls of her dress and looking away. All she could do was apologize. Apologize for all the things she had assumed. 

Erza waved her off. “It’s fine.” But then she frowned, finally leaving her little corner to come loom over Mirajane. “You… don’t seem like a demon.”

The demon looked up at her from beneath her bangs. “W-Well…” What was she supposed to say to something like that? 

“I’ve heard that demons can be pretty, so that explains that, but you’re genuinely sorry that you’ve bonded yourself onto me to keep yourself sustained.” Erza shook her head. “Doesn’t make a damn bit of sense to me.” 

“I didn’t bond myself to you just to keep myself sustained…” Mirajane whispered, unable to look the witch in the eye anymore. Honestly, she hadn’t been thinking about that at all. She’d just felt so  _ drawn _ to Erza, that she couldn’t imagine  _ not _ being bound to her in such a way. 

“Well for whatever reason that you did it.” Erza finally backed off, giving Mirajane the space to breathe again. “So… what’s the plan? What do we do now?” 

“I don’t understand.” What did Erza mean, what did they do now? There was nothing  _ to _ do. Mirajane would watch over Erza, keep her safe and happy, protect that wonderful soul of hers. 

“What do I do with you? Where do you go? Hm?” Erza asked. “I can’t exactly put my life on hold because I fucked up. I’ve got things to do. And how do we undo this?” 

“I… can’t undo it,” Mirajane admitted. “I don’t know how. I’ve never… I’ve never had a bond like this before.” 

Erza groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Of course not. Okay, I’ll ask around about that, but until then, what am I supposed to do with you? You’re bonded to me, so if something bad happens to you, I assume something bad happens to me too, right?” 

“It’s a possibility,” Mirajane admitted. With their souls and energies as tangled as they were, there were sure to be some negative consequences if something happened to either one of them. 

“Figures. In that case, I don’t want you out on the streets, not that I’m enough of an ass to do that anyways,” Erza said. “Unfortunately, it’s not like we have an extra room for you to take or sleep in.” She stepped over to the closet and pushed the door open, before standing on her tiptoes to yank a mass of blankets off the top shelf. She yelped as the bedding tumbled down on top of her head, and Mirajane couldn’t help but laugh. 

The witch grumbled something under her breath, but gathered up the blankets and grabbed some of the many pillows off her own bed. “Come on, our couch can turn into a bed.” She felt for the door knob around the blankets, barely managing to turn it, and opened the door the rest of the way with her foot. 

Unsure of what else to do, Mirajane shuffled after her, following her down the narrow hallway containing two other bedrooms, and a bathroom. It opened up into a larger room, divided by a little half-wall, creating a living room and a kitchen. It wasn’t a large apartment by any means, but wasn’t so small it was cramped and uncomfortable. 

“Here you go,” Erza said, dumping her armful of pillows and blankets onto the couch. “I guess this is your bed now.” 

Mirajane frowned. “There’s only room for one person?” 

Erza raised an eyebrow. “Yeah? I mean, you could fit more than one when we pull it out, but it only needs to be big enough to fit you anyways?” 

_ Just me? _ She’d never slept alone before. Was she  _ supposed _ to sleep alone? Or was this some kind of punishment for latching herself to Erza like she had? “O-Okay,” she said, not feeling like it was her place to argue with Erza. 

The witch grunted, and began fiddling with some kind of lever on the couch. 

Mirajane drifted a few steps away from Erza to inspect the walls, and all the different things covering them. The demon could scarcely see the wall’s original gray color, too many different things hanging up. She poked at the cobwebs, and wondered if perhaps she could clean up a little, if that would make Erza happy. Surely she didn’t  _ like _ living amongst so many cobwebs. 

She filed that idea away for later, and focused on the other things on the walls. Lots of photographs, containing lots of different people. Erza was in quite a few, as were two other dark haired women, but there were a lot of other people as well. There were also a few bones nailed to the wall, a deer skull, some frog skeletons, maybe a squirrel skeleton? Mirajane wasn’t entirely sure. Along with the bones were little glass boxes containing all kinds of dead bugs, mostly moths and beetles, but also some butterflies and bees. There was a large collection of knives and swords, scattered all over the walls in random places: big blades, little blades, intricate blades, simple blades. Mirajane hadn’t known you could even  _ get _ so many different swords and knives. Taking up what little space remained were many potted plants, their vines and leaves dangling over the multiple other wall decorations. 

But, there were a couple things that seemed out of place. Right next to the large window letting Mirajane see out onto the little terrace, was a large poster of a guy with silver hair and a mask covering most of his face, holding some kind of little knife. “What is that?” she asked, pointing to the poster. 

Erza glanced up from wrestling with the couch. “Oh, that?” She covered her mouth as she snickered. “Kagura’s Kakashi poster? The only man she would ever love?” The snickering turned into laughter. “Wrecks the interior design of the whole room, but listening to her wax poetry about him is worth it.” 

“Who’s Kakashi?” Mirajane asked, inspecting the poster closer. 

“Gods, please don’t make me explain,” Erza said. “The only Naruto I’ve even seen is the stuff Kagura has forced me to watch.” 

Mirajane smiled. She liked when Erza spoke to her like this, like she wasn’t guarding herself or on the defensive. “What about those?” she asked, pointing to the three flags hanging above the TV on the opposite wall. 

“My bi flag, Kagura and Ultear’s lesbian flag, and Kagura’s trans flag,” Erza answered, before letting out a little  _ Ah! _ as the couch finally unfolded with an alarming creaking noise. “There we go!” 

Mirajane stared a little longer at the flags, admiring all the bright colors, before turning to watch Erza spread the blankets all over the couch. 

“Alright, here you go,” the witch said. “Should be comfortable enough. Worst case scenario, you can go stay with Natsu and Gray if it’s necessary, they’ve got a spare room for when Natsu’s cousin stays over.” 

Mirajane crept over to the couch, nudging the pillows and blankets aside to crawl onto it, wincing as it creaked and leaned a little bit beneath her weight. 

“It’ll be fine,” Erza assured her, though even she didn’t sound certain. “Natsu and Gray have slept on it before, and if it can support both of those jackasses, you should be fine.” 

“Okay…” Mirajane pulled the blanket up, wrapping it around her shoulders, relishing in how soft it was. It even smelled a little bit like Erza. 

Erza stood at the end of the couch bed, staring at Mirajane as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Is there any way you can get rid of the fangs and the ears and stuff?” 

“Huh?” Mirajane asked, reaching up to grab at her ear. 

“Never mind then,” Erza said. “I thought maybe…” She shook her head. “It’s not like Kagura or Ultear would believe I just brought a girl home anyways, especially if I’m making you sleep on the couch like this.” 

“Oh.” Erza wanted to pretend she was a human? Honestly, Mirajane wasn’t sure she could pull that off, considering how little she knew about basic human interaction. 

“It’s fine, it just—” 

“Yo, Erza!” The door swung open, and two women stepped inside, shrugging off coats and tossing them off to the side. “How did that summoning go—” The woman dressed all in black froze, her intense gaze zeroing in on Mirajane. “Uh, whatcha got there, Erza?” 

Erza squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep, calming breath, before turning around to face the two women. “Ultear, this is Mirajane.” 

“That… is not a human,” Ultear said, stepping over to lean against the counter in the kitchen, pressing her forehead against the counter. “Sweet gods, Erza, what the fuck happened?” 

The other woman sighed and ran her hand down her face. “Idiot. You absolute fucking idiot.” 

“Kagura!” Erza protested. 

Ultear pushed herself away from the counter and stalked over to get in Mirajane’s face, causing the demon to squirm ever so slightly. 

Ultear was a gorgeous woman, there was no doubt about that, even if she wasn’t as pretty as Erza. But Mirajane definitely didn’t like being the center of this witch’s attention. She was unreadable, even more intense than Erza. 

“So… what are you?” Ultear asked. 

Kagura stepped over to lean against Ultear. “Feels like a bad energy.” 

“I’m a—” Mirajane began. 

Erza wildly waved her hands and shook her head. 

“Demon,” she finished. 

Erza smacked her hand against her face as Kagura and Ultear whipped around to glare at her. 

“A  _ what!?” _ Ultear shrieked. 

“Gods help you,” Kagura moaned. “Gods help us all.” 

“You’re being over dramatic!” Erza shouted. “Look at her! She’s wrapped in a My Little Pony blanket on our couch! I don’t think she’s gonna hurt anyone!” 

“I am going to strangle you and then ship your body to my brother’s for him to deal with,” Ultear said. 

“Please don’t send me to live with Natsu and Gray,” Erza pleaded. “I’ll go insane by day three.” 

“I’m considering it,” Ultear gritted out, before turning back to Mirajane.

Mirajane squeaked. 

“Why are you still here? Kagura, go get the stuff for us to cleanse the apartment, that should do at least  _ something,” _ Ultear said. 

“No!” Erza yelped, before Kagura could even take a step. 

“Why, pray tell, not?” Ultear drawled. 

“She uh… well, she kind of bonded herself to me,” Erza said awkwardly. “And I’m worried that if something bad happens to her, it’s going to rebound onto me.” 

Kagura flopped back onto the couch bed, causing it to lurch dangerously. “I’m going to elope with Milliana purely so I don’t have to deal with this.” 

“It’s not that bad!” Erza protested. 

Kagura scoffed. 

“So what’s your plan here, then?” Ultear asked. “How long am I expected to put up with a demon sleeping on my couch and throwing off all my spells with her weird energy?” 

Erza smiled sheepishly. “Until I talk to Levy?” 

Ultear frowned. “And if Levy doesn’t know anything?” 

“I look it up on the internet?” Erza offered. 

“Sweet gods.” Ultear pinched the bridge of her nose and walked away. “I’m not dealing with this. Not right now.” She slammed the door to her bedroom. 

Erza winced. “I knew she wouldn’t take it well, but I didn’t think it would be that bad.” 

Mirajane curled in on herself. She hadn’t meant to make Erza’s friends mad at her. She hadn’t meant for a lot of this to happen. 

Kagura stood up and patted Erza’s shoulder. “You know she’ll come around eventually. She’s not actually mad.” 

“Yeah…” Erza glanced at Mirajane once more. “I’m going to bed. But we’re going to actually get this figured out in the morning, alright, Mirajane?” 

The demon nodded, though she still had no idea what could possibly be done about this. 

“Goodnight, Kagura. I hope you had fun on your date,” Erza said, before shuffling back to her own bedroom. 

As soon as she was gone, Kagura turned her attention to Mirajane, and the demon had to fight back a shiver. Kagura’s golden gaze might actually have been worse than Ultear’s. 

“If you make my living arrangements dissolve into chaos, we’re going to have some issues,” the witch said. “And if you harm Erza in any way, we’re going to have even  _ bigger _ issues, understand?” 

“I would never hurt Erza!” Mirajane exclaimed. 

Shock flitted over Kagura’s features, but only for a second. “Alright then. Have a pleasant night… Mirajane.” 

As soon as she was gone, Mirajane burrowed even further into the blankets. Erza was bad enough, how was she supposed to handle two more gorgeous witches? 

She had no idea how she was going to get out of this situation. 

* * *

Erza rolled over with a groan. She’d been tossing and turning for about two hours now, unable to sleep, her mind consumed with thoughts of Mirajane. 

What was she going to  _ do? _ Unless Levy just  _ happened _ to know something about this, she was going to be stuck with a demon linked to her soul for an indefinite amount of time. 

Sure, Mirajane didn’t seem that bad. Not that bad at all. In fact, Erza was… starting to like her already, despite it all. She was pretty, and sweet, and had a certain amount of cluelessness that was honestly kind of endearing. 

That being said… she was still a demon. And like Erza had told her earlier, she couldn’t exactly put her entire life on hold. Not to please Mirajane, and certainly not to teach her how to actually live, should this become a more… permanent thing. 

She sighed and pulled her blanket over her head. This was all just so  _ confusing.  _

The door to her bedroom creaked open, and Erza frowned. It was the middle of the night, and both Kagura and Ultear loved their sleep. Plus it wasn’t like them to come in without knocking. 

She felt her mattress shift as another person crawled into the bed. 

Erza made a questioning noise as she poked her head out from underneath the blanket, seeing just who the hell decided to make themselves right at home in her bed. 

Mirajane curled up on the bed, leaving enough space between herself and Erza so that they weren’t touching at all. 

“What are you doing?” Erza asked, her voice flat. She wasn’t used to sharing her bed. If she ever did, it was generally with Natsu or Gray, and both of them were awful to sleep with. Gray because he stole all the blankets kicked at Erza if she ever got too close, and Natsu because he was like a goddamn heater and cuddled her so tightly she could hardly breathe at times. 

“I don’t like sleeping alone,” Mirajane admitted softly, her eyes already fluttering closed as she snuggled further into the blankets. 

Erza nearly groaned, but forced the noise down. “Fine, but just for tonight, okay?” 

“Mmm,” the demon hummed, already mostly asleep. 

Erza rolled her eyes, but didn’t say anything else. 

And she certainly didn’t mention it when she woke up in the morning, pressed against Mirajane’s chest, their limbs all tangled together. 


	3. Chapter 3

Erza pretended not to notice Mirajane staring at her as she fixed breakfast, her wide blue eyes tracking her every movement. She watched as she mixed the pancake batter, watched as she poured it into the skillet, watched as she burned the pancakes and cursed at them. 

“So uh… what are you planning on doing today?” Erza asked as she dumped the blackened pancakes into the garbage can. 

Mirajane cocked her head, her long choppy bangs falling into her eyes. “What do you mean, what am I doing? I’m doing whatever you’re doing!” 

Erza held back a tired sigh. “No. You are not. I have to go to school today. Maybe if it was a lecture you could come with me…. But you can’t come to a lab with me, there’s no way my lab instructor would let me get away with that.” 

“But—” 

“No buts,” Erza said firmly. “You can stay here. Kagura is already gone for the day, she’s up by five every morning because she’s a lunatic. Ultear is still here and will probably be asleep until noon, but then she’ll be out of here in less than half an hour for work. So neither one of them should bother you. But… if you don’t want to be alone I can…” She took a deep breath, already  _ not _ looking forward to explaining this. “I can call Natsu and Gray, and they can come pick you up and you can stay with them.” 

Mirajane tapped her fingers on the counter, her face scrunched up in concentration as she thought about it. “Can I… just stay here?” 

Erza forced down a relieved sigh, beyond glad she didn’t have to involve Natsu and Gray in this yet. “Yes, yeah, of course you can. Feel free to eat anything, since you know… I ruined breakfast. Oh, except the string cheese in the fridge. That’s Ultear’s, and she doesn’t like to share.” 

Mirajane nodded dutifully. 

“Alright.” Erza left her sitting at the bar to gather her backpack and the rest of her things. “Have a good day, Mirajane. I should be back around four.” 

* * *

As soon as Erza left, Mirajane already felt antsy. She didn’t like not having Erza close. Not only so she could fall back on her if she didn’t know something, or in case Ultear woke up early and had something to say to her, but… The other woman was simply a comforting presence. She brought a sense of calm to Mirajane’s soul, and without that… 

She jumped out of her seat and decided she needed to find something to do. 

She wasn’t hungry, so that ruled out cooking or anything like that. Honestly, Mirajane wasn’t sure if she  _ needed _ to eat, even in this physical body. She had yet to actually  _ feel _ hungry, anyways, and she’d never had a need for physical food before, always just depending on the emotions and feelings of others. 

She didn’t  _ think _ she was feeding off of Erza, that wasn’t what it felt like, but she was certainly more sated than she had been in a very long time. 

But either way, cooking was off the table, which left her with cleaning. 

Not that she minded! It was something to do, and perhaps Erza would appreciate it! Not to mention Ultear and Kagura. 

She found a hairpin on an end table, pinned her bangs back, and started folding up the blankets on the couch. 

* * *

“You ‘cleaned up’ my cobwebs!?” Ultear exclaimed. 

Mirajane squeaked and curled in on herself, not at all sure what to say. 

Ultear marched towards her and loomed over her. She was still in her sports bra and boxers, her hair was messy with sleep, she’d only  _ just _ dragged herself out of bed, and Mirajane did not like being her center of attention. 

“You just—” Ultear shook her head, and her shoulders began to shake with barely contained laughter. “Gods, you really just took them all down?  _ Why?” _

“W-Well I wanted to help out, and do something…” She fidgeted with the fabric of her dress. “And I didn’t think that anyone would want to live with so many cobwebs on the walls…” 

Ultear’s laughter abruptly cut off. “Are you  _ sure _ you’re a demon?” 

Mirajane frowned, and leaned against the wall. “Of course I am! You think I don’t know what I am?” 

“You don’t seem…” The witch shook her head. “Never mind. It’s not important.” Then she went to dig the cobwebs out of the trashcan. “These are not actual cobwebs. They are decorations, for Halloween.” 

“Oh…” Mirajane crept over to watch as Ultear began taping the cobwebs to the walls and doors again. “What’s Halloween?” 

“Hm, a lot of things,” Ultear hummed. “It’s a holiday. Means different things for different people. Mostly, it’s just a time to celebrate though. Give it a week or two and there’s going to be all kinds of parties. Erza will probably end up dragging you to a couple. Her friends do love to party.” The witch’s hands were delicate as she worked around the various decorations and weapons coating the walls. “Assuming you’re still here, that is.” 

“You want to get rid of me.” Mirajane wasn’t an idiot. She knew that Ultear and Kagura wanted her gone. Hell, Erza did, too. She’d said as much. 

“Of course I do. You’re a demon, and you’re living on my couch,” she said. “You claim you carry no ill will towards Erza or any of us, but I find that hard to believe, considering what you are. I won’t be hostile, so long as you don’t harm anyone. But that doesn’t mean I’m ever going to be content with you just  _ being _ here. And if Erza ever decides to slack off on searching for a way to get rid of you for  _ any _ reason—” she hissed. 

Mirajane gulped, and stumbled back a step, not expecting the sudden intensity rolling off of Ultear in waves. 

_ “I _ will make it my responsibility to get rid of you.” 

Despite how much Mirajane didn’t want to leave, she found herself nodding. 

“Good.” Ultear whipped around, and stalked back to her bedroom. “Have a good day, Mirajane. You seem nice enough.” 

Mirajane didn’t think she’d ever felt more relieved than she had when Ultear stopped paying attention to her. 

* * *

“What fucking happened, Erza!?” Gray shouted. 

Erza winced and jerked the phone back from her ear. So Ultear had told him after all… Of course she had. 

“I thought you said you had it under control! And that you’d back out if it got too much!” he continued to shout, and she could hear him perfectly fine despite her phone being set on the table. 

“Yeah, screw you, Erza!” Natsu chimed in. “You were gonna summon a demon and you didn’t even invite me? Not to mention Gray has been pissed all day because of it!” 

“Shut  _ up, _ Natsu!” Gray snapped, followed by the sounds of rustling fabric, a thunk, and muffled grunts of pain. “Give me the fucking phone back, you fucking ass!” 

She sighed and rolled her eyes. Even after all this time, she still couldn’t figure out how they were living together without destroying the place or each other. 

“So what gives?” Gray demanded as soon as he had the phone back. “Ultear said you haven’t even gotten rid of it yet! Do you need us to come and help with a cleansing spell?” 

“What?” she yelped. “No—” 

“We’re coming over. We’ll be there in ten minutes.” 

“I’m not even at  _ home!” _ she attempted, but Gray had already hung up. 

“Oh goddammit.” 

* * *

Mirajane had no idea what to do when two men barged into the apartment. Ultear had already left, and not a single other person had come back. “Who are you!?” she demanded. 

They both froze as soon as they saw her standing in the middle of the living room, the door slowly swinging on its hinges after being slammed open. “Who the hell are you?” the pink-haired one demanded. 

“Oh my gods…” The other man’s eyes widened. “Did Erza actually hook up with someone?” 

“Uh… Who are you?” Mirajane repeated, unsure of what else she could possibly say. 

_ “Gray! Natsu!” _ Erza roared from the hallway. “You assholes better not have broken my fucking door!” 

“Oh, shit, did we?” 

“Fuck, double check!” 

Erza skidded into the apartment, her chest heaving. “I messaged you idiots and told you I wasn’t even home yet! I had to skip out on my last class to get back here and make sure you didn’t do something stupid!” 

“You summoned a demon and didn’t tell us!” 

“Oh, shut up, Gray!” she snapped. “That doesn’t mean you get to break into my house! And  _ you!” _ She whirled around to face the other man. “Don’t you encourage him, Natsu!” 

He shook his head and turned his palms up. “Hey, I just wanted to see the demon.” 

“Well.” Erza wildly gestured to Mirajane. “You’ve seen her! Now get out!” 

“No way!” Natsu’s eyes lit up and he bounded over to Mirajane, getting right up in her face. “This is it?” 

Mirajane blinked, her eyes roving over him, taking in his vibrantly colored hair, except for the black roots, that needed to be re-dyed to match. As he moved around, circling her, all the jewelry he wore jingled: sparkling, dangling earrings, charm covered necklaces, beaded bracelets. Honestly, she had no idea what to focus on the longer she looked. His clothes were made of so many clashing patterns it made her eyes hurt. “Hello.” 

“Woah.” He grinned. “She seems cool, Erza! She gonna stay for a while?” 

_ “Natsu!” _ Gray exclaimed. “It’s a demon!” 

“Eh.” He waved him off. “She feels a little weird, but not menacing.” He grabbed Mirajane’s shoulders and shook her. “She looks cool! She’s got funny teeth!” 

“You mean  _ fangs?” _ Gray demanded. 

“Natsu!” Erza grabbed him and pulled him back. “Back off! I’m sure she doesn’t appreciate you being so close. And her name is Mirajane.” 

“Oh, it has a name?” Gray asked. “Great, you’re already attached to it.” 

_ “She,” _ Erza corrected fiercely. “Wait…” She glanced back at Mirajane. “It is ‘she,’ right?” 

“I suppose so,” Mirajane said. “I don’t personally care.” She did have a certain amount of control regarding her physical body, but she did not care how people addressed her when she was using said body. 

“Erza, that’s a demon!” he said. 

“Yes, you’ve said that. But Natsu doesn’t mind her, do you, Natsu?” she asked with a smirk towards Gray. 

“Nah, I mostly just wanted to come see her. Gray was the one who wanted to do a cleansing ceremony and all that shit,” he said. 

“Natsu, you were supposed to back me up on this!” Gray said. 

Erza sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Look, I appreciate your concern, and I would like some help in figuring out how to get her unbonded from my soul, but a cleansing isn’t really anything I need or want at the moment.” 

Gray crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe. “Erza, I don’t like you being attached to her like this.” 

“She’s fine,” Erza insisted. She patted Mirajane’s shoulder, and the demon almost melted into her touch. “She’s not hurt me in the least. She’s been… nice.” 

“I am nice,” Mirajane agreed with a nod. 

“She’s so cool!” Natsu exclaimed, bouncing with excitement. “Gray, seriously, her energy is fucking amazing. I bet we could do all kinds of cool spells if we had her—” 

Gray groaned and rolled his eyes. 

Mirajane focused harder on Natsu. She’d learned by now that witches could sense certain energies. Likely, it was a necessary skill when it came to doing magic, casting spells and creating charms. But something about Natsu… the way he talked about her energy was different, and Mirajane thought that he felt slightly different than any of the other witches she’d met so far. 

“Look, I know you’re really good when it comes to sensing that kind of stuff,” Gray said to Natsu. “But she might be masking—” 

“Oh, no she ain’t,” he said. “You just wanna be paranoid.” 

“He’s right, Gray,” Erza said. “She is perfectly pleasant.” 

Mirajane offered what she hoped was a genuine smile, but he just scoffed. 

“Don’t mind him, he’s just an ass,” Natsu said. 

“Oh fuck off,” Gray grumbled. 

“So, um…” Mirajane began. “Who exactly are they?” 

“They’re part of my coven. Mira, this is Natsu Dragneel, and Gray Fullbuster,” she said. “You’ll likely be seeing a lot of them. They show up with no invitation all the time. And when I’m busy, you can always go stay with them. I’m sure they’d love to have you.” 

“Oh, hell yeah!” Natsu shouted. “You can even have Wendy’s room, if you ever wanna stay the night!” 

Mirajane glanced towards Gray, expecting him to protest, but he merely sighed. “Look, I don’t have a problem with it, so long as you don’t hurt, Erza.” 

He was the one that was related to Ultear, right? Mirajane thought that was it… If so, it made sense. They certainly seemed very similar. 

“I would never harm Erza!” Mirajane swore solemnly. “I would rather die than that! I would give my life for her, if necessary! I would—” 

Erza shifted uncomfortably and gently grabbed Mirajane’s wrist. “I assure you that that’s not necessary, Mirajane.” 

“Yeah, sounds pretty gay,” Natsu laughed. 

“Natsu!” Erza snarled. 

“What?” He turned his palms up. “I’m just callin’ it like I see it.” 

“Honestly…” She shook her head. “You have no self awareness. Have you  _ seen _ your relationship with him?” she demanded as she pointed towards Gray. 

Natsu stuck his tongue out at her. 

Gray sighed and shook his head. “Oh, whatever. If you’re sure it’s fine, then I guess we’ll go. Sorry to barge in like that.” 

“Oh no, you’re already here. Might as well stay for dinner,” Erza said. “Besides, Kagura should be getting back soon. And Ultear will have your hide if she finds out that you came to stay and didn’t talk to her.” 

“Fuck,” Gray muttered. 

“Fuck  _ yes!” _ Natsu amended, then he grabbed Mirajane’s hand. “Mira! Can I call ya Mira? Anyways, tell me about being a demon. That sounds cool as hell!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone can figure out the nature of Natsu and Gray's relationship in this fic pls let me know because I don't know and neither do any of the characters


	4. Chapter 4

Erza woke up wrapped in Mirajane’s arms again the next morning. Unlike last morning, she didn’t immediately get up, trying to put as much distance between them as possible. She hadn’t fought the demon crawling into bed with her last night, like she had the previous one. Why should she? They’d already slept together once, and it hadn’t been so bad. 

Mirajane shifted, pulled Erza closer and buried her nose in her hair. 

It was strange. Erza had never really been the little spoon before. It was nice, in a way. 

“You’re awake so early,” Mirajane murmured. 

Erza scoffed. “So are you.” 

“I’m awake ‘cause you’re awake.” She somehow managed to snuggle even closer. “Do you have class again today?” 

“No, but I do have a few errands I need to run today,” she said. She hadn’t gotten the chance to speak to Levy yesterday, or even call her, so she needed to drop by and visit her. She was probably at that little farmer’s market today selling her herbs. And after that… Erza fought back a shudder. She needed to go to Natsu and Gray’s, dig through their old spell books and grimoires, but she always  _ hated _ going to their apartment. “But you can come with me today. You’ll see Natsu and Gray again.” 

“I don’t think Gray liked me,” Mirajane said. 

Erza sighed. “He’ll get over it. He… doesn’t have the best experience with demons. Neither has Ultear. It’s why they're both more hostile than anyone else. But if they don’t get any better soon, I’ll try and talk to them. It’s not like what happened to them was  _ your _ fault.” 

Mirajane hummed, and pulled back so she could card her fingers through Erza’s hair. “If you say so.” 

“You liked Natsu, though, didn’t you?” she asked. 

“Mm, yeah. He was… nice.” She grew silent for a moment. “Is he different from you?” 

“Huh? What do you mean?” Erza asked, finally rolling over to face Mirajane. “I know he’s a little strange, he always has been, but he’s not—” 

Mirajane shook her head. “No, I mean he…” She trailed off, like she was trying to think of the best way to phrase what she meant. “He  _ feels _ different than you.” She waved her hand. “Like his energy, his essence. I don’t know how to explain it to you.” 

_ “Oh.” _ Erza nodded, thinking she understood what the demon meant. “You mean how he feels as a witch?” 

“Yeah!” Mirajane exclaimed with a smile. “Yeah, that’s it!” 

“It’s because the way he uses magic is… a little different,” she said. “I don’t know the exact details of it all, but Natsu comes from a long line of really powerful witches. It’s a family thing for him. His cousins are all the same way, which… we might run into a couple of them today, Gajeel is usually with Levy…” She shook her head. “Anyways, yeah, his magic is a little different, and he’s usually open to a lot of different types of magic, which was why he was so excited by you. I wouldn’t be surprised if he asks you to help him with spells on occasion, just to see what he could pull off with you.” 

“Oh.” Mirajane rolled over to lie on her back. “Well, I’m glad he seemed to like me. Do you like me, Erza?” 

“Uh—” Heat spread across Erza’s cheeks. “W-What do you mean by that?” A person would have to be stupid to not like Mirajane. She was gorgeous, and kind, and though she could be a little ditzy, was very sweet to be around. 

And that was part of the issue. If she was really going to unbind Mirajane, she couldn’t afford to be getting attached to her. 

“Well no one seems to be happy that I’m here, other than Natsu…” she said. “But I want to make you happy, except… if  _ I’m _ the thing making you unhappy…” She frowned. “I don’t know what I should do then.” 

Erza sighed. “You’re not making me unhappy, Mira. You just make things… complicated.” 

“Oh. And that’s bad?” 

“Mm… not exactly.” Erza pushed herself out of bed. “But it doesn’t matter. Come on, let’s go meet up with Levy.” 

Erza had ended up giving Mirajane some of her own clothes. She’d been wearing the same dress for the past two days, and she couldn’t exactly afford to go out and buy the demon a whole wardrobe of her own, so they were just going to have to share. 

Erza liked seeing Mirajane in her old Pokemon t-shirt. It was slightly too big for her, hanging loosely off her frame. Then Erza shook her head, scolding herself. She really should stop letting her mind wander. It didn’t  _ matter _ how attractive Mirajane was. She was still a demon that Erza needed to get out of her life. Or at the least… uninvolved with her soul. And maybe into her own apartment. 

“Here.” Erza passed Mirajane a little ponytail. 

“What’s this for?” Mirajane asked. 

“I’ve noticed you blowing your bangs back, and trying to pin them away,” she said. “This way you can tie them up.” 

“Oh.” The demon smiled. “Thank you!” 

* * *

“Oh, hi, Erza!” Levy exclaimed. “What are you doing here? You know I’ll share my herbs with you for free.” 

Erza smiled and shook her head. “Oh no, I’m not here for herbs. At least not today.” She approached Levy’s little stand. “Levy, this is Mirajane. I don’t know if you’ve heard about what’s going on from anyone else, but I’m here to talk about… her.” 

Mirajane waved.

Gajeel stood up, a wolfish grin on his face, and came to stand by his fiancee’s side. “Oh? So y’er the demon that Scarlet went and summoned.” 

Erza sighed and shook her head. “Who was it spreading it around?” Probably Natsu, if she was being honest, or  _ maybe _ Ultear. She might already be asking around for help. 

“We heard it from Wendy this morning,” Levy said as she began to twirl her hair around her finger. 

“Wha—? Where the hell did  _ Wendy _ hear it from?” Erza demanded. 

“Wendy?” Levy turned around to ask. “Where’d you hear about the demon? Was it from Natsu?” 

Wendy popped up from behind the stand, her eyes still glued to her Warrior Cats book. “No, Chelia told me.” 

_ “Chelia!?” _ Chelia wasn’t even in their  _ coven! _

“Mmhm.” The little girl glanced up from her book. “Chelia said that Lyon told her, and that Lyon heard it from Gray, Ultear,  _ and _ Meredy.” 

Erza groaned. By this rate, every single witch she knew was going to have their nose in this. She was never going to live this down. 

Mirajane shuffled a little closer to Erza, so close that their shoulders brushed. “Hi.” 

“Oh, you’re so pretty!” Wendy exclaimed with a bright smile. 

Gajeel glanced between Levy and Erza, before grabbing onto Wendy. “Come on, brat. Let’s go look around, leave them to gossip.” 

“I’m reading!” Wendy protested. 

“You can read your weird cat books when we get back,” he said. “Come on.” 

Levy offered him a grateful smile. 

“Hey, Mira, you wanna go with them?” Erza suggested. It’d probably be a lot easier to talk to Levy about what she actually needed without Mirajane hovering over them. 

“Okay!” the demon said, and she bounded after Gajeel and Wendy, already chattering away. 

“I gotta admit,” Levy said as soon as they were all out of earshot. “That is nothing like I was expecting a demon to act. Especially considering everything with Gray and them…” 

“Yeah, I don’t know.” Erza spared Mirajane another glance before she disappeared into the crowd and market stands. “She’s… She’s a strange one, that’s for sure.” 

“We’re sure she’s actually a demon?” Levy asked. 

“I don’t know what else she would be,” Erza said. “I did a little research of my own last night, and… she matches the descriptions, just without all the malevolent energy.” 

“Benevolent demons…” Levy hummed and pressed her finger against her chin. “I’m going to have to look into that at some point.” 

“It’s so  _ weird,” _ Erza said. “She’s so dead set on making me happy. She even cleaned the house! She’s like… I don’t know, some kind of weird guardian angel, rather than a demon.” 

Levy chuckled. “Well, I don’t know about  _ that. _ But what are you wanting from me?” 

Erza looked down, and began to fiddle with the bundles of herbs Levy had laid out. “Well, she bonded herself to my soul. And I don’t really know what to do about that.” 

Levy’s eyes widened. “She— She did  _ what?” _

“Said she bonded herself to my soul? Supposedly it’s why she has a physical form like that at all,” Erza said, not really noticing how shocked Levy was. “I don’t know, it was weird. As soon as she did it, she called me Titania too. I don’t know how she would have even known that name. I haven’t gone by it in forever.” 

“Oh gods…” Levy braced herself on stand and took a deep breath. “Erza, you really don’t understand what she did?” 

“No?” She shrugged. “She just did what demons do, didn’t she? Latch onto someone, so she could use their energy? I don’t know, she kept going on about how I called to her, and my soul felt right. Some weird demon thing, isn’t it? I thought surely you’d know of some way to fix it, or at the least, somewhere to start looking.” 

“Oh my gods, Erza,  _ no!” _ Levy exclaimed. “That wasn’t a demon binding itself to you to leech off of your energy! Especially if you’re not feeling drained at all, and you’re not, are you?” 

She shook her head. “No. Besides, Mira said she’d never do anything to hurt me, and I figure sapping me of my energy and spirit would qualify as hurting me.” 

“Erza, I think what happened was soul-binding magic!” she said. “You know, like soulmate stuff!” 

“Soul—  _ Soulmate stuff!?” _ Erza shrieked. 

Several people turned to stare at her, giving her odd looks, but Erza didn’t care. Not when Levy had just said something like  _ that!  _

“W-What do you mean by that? That she’s my— my  _ soulmate!?  _ Levy, that’s ridiculous! There’s no way that could be true! I’m not in love with her! I don’t even like her!” 

Levy leaned across the table and grabbed Erza’s wrists. “Erza, calm down. That’s not necessarily what soulmate magic is or means.” Though her eyes narrowed, like she didn’t quite believe Erza’s desperate protests anyways. “It’s just two really compatible souls, though it can often be romantic partners that use it.” 

“Oh…” Erza forced her body to relax, trying to will the tension in her muscles away. That made her feel a  _ little _ bit better. “W-Well then what is it?” 

“Binding magic,” she said. “But you already knew that. Most of the time, witches do it with someone they’re really close with, and they can more heavily depend on each other when doing spells and rituals together. Gajeel and I are planning on doing it someday soon. It wouldn’t surprise me if Natsu and Gray ever did it, considering how close they are.” 

“That doesn’t seem like something that could get done  _ accidentally _ though,” Erza protested. And she had  _ certainly _ never meant to invoke a bond like that with Mirajane. No way in hell. 

“But it wasn’t an accident, was it?” Levy pressed. “That demon bonded herself to you on purpose, said your soul felt right, or whatever it was you said, and you  _ were _ reaching out for a bond of sorts, even if it wasn’t necessarily that one that you wanted. Mirajane might have no idea what she did, but it was definitely on purpose.” 

“But…” 

“It’s not a bad thing, Erza!” Levy said. “I’m sure a lot of witches would kill to have that kind of bond and compatibility with someone! So she’s not bad for you at all! Because your souls, or energies, or whatever you want to call it, are so good for one another, it’s actually beneficial. It gave that demon a physical body, without harming you at all. Gods knows how it could benefit you down the line.” 

“So I can’t get rid of it?” she asked. 

“W-Well…” Levy began to tap her fingers on her upper arms. “I mean, I can look into ways to nullify it, if you want. But I don’t know why you would  _ want _ to. Like I said, it’s not harming you, and it could potentially end up being a really good thing! Likely, you two will get along really well. Platonically, or romantically. But… if it’s  _ really _ what you want, I can try and find some way to put an end to it.” 

Erza sighed. “Thanks, Levy.” Sure, the way Levy  _ described _ it made it sound good, but that didn’t mean… Erza didn’t think she was ready for something like a  _ soulmate. _ And besides, like she’d told Mirajane before, she couldn’t exactly put her life on hold to help her learn how to live like a normal person, which was something she would have to do if this became a permanent thing. 

“Yeah, no problem.” Though she certainly didn’t sound happy about it. “Hey, are you coming to Cana’s Halloween party?” 

“Halloween…” Erza shook her head. “Gods, I forgot about that, considering everything that’s been going on. I’m sure I’ll at least drop by though, tell everyone hello.” 

“Good!” Levy’s smile returned. “You should bring your demon. I’m sure they’d all love her.” 


	5. Chapter 5

“Wendy said she would draw me a cat,” Mirajane said. 

Erza hummed and pressed the button for the seventh floor. “Yeah, she’s been really into those cat books recently. She’s probably excited she found someone to listen to her talk about them.” 

“I like her,” she said. 

“Everyone likes Wendy.” In fact, if Erza ever met a person that  _ didn’t _ like Wendy, she would immediately be suspicious. Suspicious of what she wasn’t exactly sure, but there was something strange about disliking Wendy, for sure. “Now, I’m so sorry in advance about Natsu and Gray’s place.” She stared up at the little screen displaying the elevator numbers. 

_ 4… 5…. _

Mirajane made a questioning noise, cocking her head and pinching her eyebrows together. 

Erza let out a heavy sigh. “It’s mostly Natsu, but the place is a fucking disaster. They probably won’t have any food other than like… ramen, either. Despite how it looks, I swear, it’s not, like, hazardous or anything. Gray doesn’t let it get that bad. It’s mostly just clutter that Natsu refuses to get rid of. Oh, and they have some cats. Two of them. And  _ a lot _ of lizards. Natsu loves lizards, and lizards love him. Their actual pet ones are in cages, but sometimes you just find them loose. I think they’re wild ones that are drawn to him or something and get in. Gajeel and Wendy are the same way.” 

The elevator dinged.

“Oh, I like cats and lizards!” Mirajane said with a bright smile. “Can I pet them?” 

“Uh, yeah, sure.” Erza still just couldn’t understand how this demon was the kindest, happiest person she’d ever encountered. 

“Yes!” Her smile widened and she clapped her hands together. 

Erza found herself smiling as well. She wouldn’t consider herself a negative person, by any means, but it was still lovely to be with someone who was genuinely just so happy. 

They approached Gray and Natsu’s apartment. It was obvious which one was theirs, thanks to the little charms and sigils hung all over the door. Erza’s own apartment door was very similar. “Gray! Natsu!” She knocked on the door. “We’re here! You better be feeding me something other than microwavable macaroni!” 

Barely a second later, a black paw shot out from underneath the door, reaching for their feet. 

Mirajane cooed and kneeled down, letting the cat paw at her fingers. 

“Get away from the door,” Gray scolded, and the cat’s paws disappeared, much to Mirajane’s disappointment. 

Gray swung the door open, his cat dangling from one arm. “Hey, Natsu should be back from work in about ten minutes or so, he got called in today.” He eyed Mirajane. “Hello, Mira.” 

“Hi!” She waved, and leaned forward to let the cat sniff her. “Can I pet him? What's his names?" 

“Her,” Gray corrected. “She doesn't have a name, she'll tell me when she's ready.” 

"What?" the demon asked. 

Erza chuckled and shook her head. "This is Gray's familiar, but he refuses to name her. Natsu calls her Kitkat, the rest of us just call her Kitty."

Mirajane squealed, "Hi Kitty!" and ran her hands over the cat’s head, grinning as she purred and pressed against her palm. 

Gray glared at his cat, like she had just committed some great betrayal. “Well come inside, I guess,” he said, before dropping the cat and leaving Mirajane to chase after her. “I tried to clean a little, but you know how it is.” 

Erza peaked around him and sighed. “Gods, I swear it gets worse every time I come over here.” 

“Well he keeps finding more shit and bringing it back,” Gray said. “I made a path through it though.” 

“He’s a fucking hoarder,” Erza complained. “We really need to do something about this.” 

“Eh, it’s fine,” Gray said with a shrug. “It’s not so bad once you get used to it.” 

“Gray, you can barely see the floor!” she exclaimed as she stepped inside and kicked her shoes off. 

The entire apartment was  _ filled _ with random items Natsu had found and decided he liked. Erza wasn’t sure if he had ever gotten rid of a single thing he owned. Gray did his best to keep things organized, which was why it was mostly boxes everywhere, rather than just random items strewn about, but there wasn’t much he could do about the sheer  _ volume _ of things in the apartment. The piles of boxes were almost as tall as Erza was, and they were accompanied by piles of things that couldn’t really go in boxes, and a lot of old books and grimoires. Natsu’s clothes were thrown all over the place, too, and Erza counted about five terrariums nestled amongst the disaster. Despite Gray’s claims, she couldn’t find the path he’d said he’d created. 

Mirajane chased Gray’s cat through the clutter, knocking over a few piles of things. 

“Hey! Watch it!” he snapped. “She’s not a big people person. Find Happy, he’ll probably let you hold him.” 

Mirajane let the cat disappear amongst the mess. “Happy?” 

“Natsu’s cat,” he said. “He’s around somewhere. He’s bright blue right now because the idiot found this dye for animal fur.” 

The demon’s eyes went wide, and she immediately started calling for the cat and making clicking noises. 

“Gray, how am I supposed to make it to the kitchen table? Or the couch?” Erza asked. “Actually…” She scanned the living room. “I can’t even  _ see _ the couch.” 

“Yeah, it became a shelf for some of Natsu’s old family stuff about a month ago,” he said. “We moved the TV into the bedroom and we kinda just hang out in there now.” 

“Because it’s the only  _ livable  _ room in here!” she shouted. 

“It is not,” he argued. “It’s not  _ gross _ in here. It’s actually really fucking clean, there’s just a lot of stuff.” 

She nearly groaned, but she also knew this wasn’t a fight she would win with either of them. They’d been living like this for a long time now, and they weren’t about to change their habits any time soon. “Whatever. I need to look through your spell books and grimoires. Levy knows what happened with Mira.” 

He raised an eyebrow. “Oh?” 

“Apparently she’s my soulmate,” she said. 

“She’s— She’s your fucking  _ what!?”  _ he shrieked, and if Erza didn’t know about his past, the horrified expression on his face might have been funny. 

“It’s fine!” she hurried to assure him. “Levy said she would look into ways to undo it, and that it’s a good thing, actually. It means she won’t hurt me.” 

“But… Erza, you  _ know _ what demons do to people when they get their claws in too deep.” He began to rub at the silver bracelet on his arm. “Gods, you saw what happened to  _ me.” _

“I know, I know,” she said. “But Levy said she was on it, and that’s why I’m here to look through your books. Besides… I mean, you’ve seen Mira. She would never hurt me. I don’t think she would hurt anyone. And like I said, this soul binding spell thing is apparently a really good thing! Levy said that her and Gajeel were planning on doing it together!” 

“You don’t  _ know _ that,” he insisted. “She’s a demon! She might— might—” He growled and shook his head. “Look, Erza, I’m trying to give you the benefit of the doubt with this, I really am, but if anyone knows what demons can do to someone, it’s  _ me. _ And I can tell you right fucking now that you won’t find jackshit about unbinding her from you in any of our books. Do you know how many times I combed through these things when I was dealing with my own curse?” 

“I know!” she exclaimed. “I know this is tough for you, but it’s different from what happened to you! Mira is different from Deliora. And just like you said. You were  _ cursed, _ Mira didn’t curse me.” 

“No, she just bound herself to your  _ fucking soul!”  _ he snapped. “That sounds  _ way _ worse to me!” 

_ “Gray!” _ she hissed, lunging to grab him by his shirt. “I  _ understand _ why you feel this way, I really do. But Mirajane is  _ different. _ Even if you don’t trust her, trust  _ me _ on this. That’s all I’m asking. Besides…” She took a steadying breath. “She’s probably listening to all of this.” The demon had disappeared in the search for the cats, but it was impossible that she  _ hadn’t _ heard them shouting. 

He wrenched himself out of her hold. “I just want you  _ safe, _ Erza. I don’t want you to go through what I did.” 

“But I’m not! Do you see any black markings on me?” She held her arms up, pulled down the collar of her shirt, spun around and lifted the hair from the back of her neck. “Has my magic been on the fritz since this happened? Have Ultear or Kagura called you in a panic because I’ve been having violent mood swings and they were scared?  _ No!”  _

Gray flinched back. 

Guilt immediately unfurled in Erza’s chest. “Gods, gods, I’m sorry, Gray. I didn’t mean it like that— I…” She held her hand out. “I just want you to understand that it’s different. I’m not holding what happened to you against you, no one does. But this is  _ different.” _

He clutched at his bracelet, and took a deep breath. “I… I want to, Erza. I really, really do. I tried the first day I met her, I told myself I would leave you be with this, and I would just ignore her so long as she didn’t hurt you, and that I wouldn’t bring any of this up, but I… I just… Erza, my life will  _ never _ be the same because of a demon, and I just don’t understand how you could… how you could trust her not to hurt you or anyone else.” 

Erza frowned, desperately trying to come up with some way to comfort him, assure him it was okay, and that Mirajane really was different. “I’ve never felt threatened by her, Gray, even when she first appeared. I feel comfortable with her. She’s kind, and sweet, and affectionate with me. I know demons can be deceitful, I do, but please trust me when I tell you that she’s genuine. I can just  _ tell.”  _

“Erza…” 

“You know she called me Titania when I first summoned her?” she said, before shaking her head with a fond smile. “I haven’t gone by my mother’s name for years now, despite it still, you know… being my true name and all that, and not only did she just automatically know it, she didn’t question it at all when I asked her not to call me that. She climbed into bed with me that first night because she hates sleeping alone. She watches me burn my breakfast in the morning. She cleaned Ultear’s damn cobwebs off the walls because she didn’t understand they were decorations and wanted to be helpful. She’s not a malevolent creature Gray, I swear to you. She’s just a kind, confused being, who cares about me, for some godforsaken reason.” 

Gray just stared at her, something unreadable in his eyes. 

“This way that our souls are bound together?” She reached out to lay a hand on his shoulder. “Levy compared it to you and Natsu, you know. She said it wouldn’t surprise her if you two ever did the same thing. Now imagine me telling you not to trust Natsu.” 

Gray ran his hand down his face. “I’d tell you you were being a fucking dumbass.” 

“Yeah. And I’m not saying I feel the same way about her as you do about Natsu. That’d be impossible, we’ve only known each other for a few days,” she said. “It just means that I have the  _ potential _ to have a relationship like that with her, if I ever wanted that.” 

“You mean some weird thing that no one else understands?” he asked, a wry smile on his face. 

She tightened her grip on his shoulder. “Whether or not other people understand it doesn’t matter. But do you get it now?” 

“I… I guess…” He shook his head. “Or at least I’ll try.” 

“Thank you,” she breathed. “And I really am sorry about what I said.  _ No one _ blames you for any of that. It wasn’t your fault.” 

“Yeah, well, you were right. It’s not like Wendy ever called Gajeel because you and Natsu were having a screaming match…” He let out a shaky breath. “There’s a reason she doesn’t come stay over much anymore. I still don’t think Gajeel likes me very much because of that…” 

“Still, that was… I never should have… It wasn’t your fault,” she repeated. 

“It was, but it doesn’t matter.” He held his arm up, and gestured to his bracelet. “I’ve got this now thanks to you guys. Keeps it under control.” 

“I—” 

Keys jingled, and the front door swung open. “Hey, I decided to pick some pizza up since Erza and Mira were coming over—” 

Natsu froze, and even he wasn’t dense enough to miss the tension in the air. “Did I miss something? Where’s Mira?” 

Erza was about to explain, but Gray beat her to it. “Nothing, it’s fine. And I don’t know, she was looking for the cats but she probably got buried beneath all your shit and suffocated.” He shrugged Erza’s hand away and reached out to take the pizza boxes from Natsu. “I’ll go get some plates, you clean off the kitchen table.” 

* * *

Mirajane was very careful not to clutch the cat so tightly she hurt him, but she just needed something to hold onto. She’d been smart enough not to get involved in the fight between Erza and Gray, and she was glad for all the items in the apartment. It was very easy to hide so they could pretend she wasn’t here. About halfway through their fight, the blue cat, Happy, had jumped into her lap, like he’d been trying to comfort her. 

Quite honestly, she didn’t know  _ what _ to think. She wished she’d known Gray had such bad experiences with demons. She would have stayed at Erza’s and let her come see her friends without her. 

It didn’t  _ surprise _ her. She knew most demons were awful, and liked to torment others. She didn’t know much about  _ curses, _ however… Maybe she could ask—

“Oh, there you are, Mira.” Natsu peered over the pile of items she’d hidden behind. “Hey! You found Happy! He’s a sweetheart, ain’t he?” 

She glanced down at the cat. “Yeah…” His fur was soft, too. 

“Well come on, I brought some pizza back,” he said. “Come eat some!” 

“Alright.” Gently, she placed the cat on the floor, and got back to her feet. 

She followed him through the apartment, watching as he weaved perfectly between all his stuff, not knocking into a single thing. However, she wasn’t quite so agile. 

“Don’t mind Gray and Erza,” he said. “I know how they get when they fight, because they were fighting, weren’t they?” 

She nodded. 

“Yeah, thought so. I’d been expecting it honestly.” He sighed and shook his head. “Gray’s been… twitchy ever since you showed up. I’m just sorry I didn’t get here quick enough to try and stop them.” 

Mirajane froze. Had she really been so negatively affecting so many things? Ultear and Kagura didn’t want her around, she’d made Erza fight with one of her best friends, and now she learned she was making Gray upset even when she wasn't around? 

Natsu turned around and gave her a reassuring smile. “Hey… it’s not your fault. You don’t have to get upset about it.” 

“But I—” 

He shook his head. “No, it’s not. Besides…” He leaned over and rested his arm over her shoulders. “If Erza likes ya enough to fight with Gray about you, that’s a good thing, isn’t it?” He grinned. 

Mirajane frowned. Why the  _ hell _ would that be a good thing? “I don’t understand.” 

“You want her to like you, don’t you? Well, if she’s fighting for you, that means she likes you,” he said. “I mean, obviously I don’t actually _ like _ her fighting with Gray, but I’ll try talking to him about it, alright? Maybe I can get through to him. I can sense you’re not a bad person, and my senses never lie.” 

“Okay…” Mirajane could admit it had been nice to listen to Erza defend her, even if she still felt guilty for causing the fight in the first place. 

“Right!” Natsu slapped her back so hard she stumbled forward a pace, knocking over a pile of books, but he didn’t seem to mind. “Now let’s go eat. I’m fucking starving.” 

* * *

Erza didn’t mean to look over Gray’s shoulder as he messaged Ultear. She really, really hadn’t. She’d just been leaning over to grab another slice of the pizza, and she’d caught Mirajane’s name on the screen. 

_ I think Erza’s got a thing for Mirajane. Keep an eye on that, alright?  _

She nearly choked on the pizza in her mouth. 


	6. Chapter 6

“Witches are so strange, Lisanna!” Mirajane exclaimed. “Or maybe it’s humans in general. I can’t say for sure, I don’t think Erza  _ knows _ any regular humans.” 

Lisanna chuckled, her form flickering in and out. “It seems like you’re really happy here. I’m glad for you, Mira. No more wandering around just trying to survive, huh?” 

Mirajane sighed and leaned back, resting her weight on her palms. “No, not really. I’m just here until Erza finds a way to unbind us…” Her fingers curled, the rough concrete of the roof scraping against her nails. “So I won’t be here forever.” 

“Oh…” Lisanna settled down and crossed her legs. “I’m sorry, Mira. You really like her, don’t you?” 

“I think so…” She took a deep breath. “I think maybe Erza likes me. But her friends don’t, and she’s not going to pick me over them. Not that I would want her to! It’s just…” Her shoulders hunched. “I wish I could get them to like me.” 

“Just give them some time!” her sister said with a bright smile. “You’re so kind, Mira, I’m sure they’ll warm up to you eventually. After all, Elfman somehow managed to get that one witch wrapped around his finger, didn’t he?” 

“It’s different,” Mirajane said. “He didn’t  _ bind _ himself to her, I don’t think.” 

“Well no.” Lisanna tapped her ghostly fingers against the roof. “But I’m just saying if Elf can manage getting close with someone like  _ her, _ I think you’ll be alright.” 

“I hope so. But what about you, Lisanna?” she asked. “Are you doing alright? I’m sorry you’re still… you don’t even have a real body right now.” 

“I’m okay!” her sister assured her. “I’m used to it after all. Who knows! Maybe I’ll meet a nice witch of my own one day. Let me know if any of this Erza’s friends are interested. I’ll do just about anything to get things a bit more stable.” 

Mirajane forced herself to smile. Sure, while she’d certainly never meant for any of this to happen when she answered Erza’s call, she still felt guilty for leaving Lisanna to a life like this. Due to the nature of demons, she hadn’t exactly always been  _ around _ her sister, but it didn’t feel fair that she and Elfman had more stable lives now, while Lisanna was forced to wander, sustaining herself on whatever random energies she could. Just this little bit of communication they were managing right now would probably drain Lisanna for  _ days. _

“Maybe I could ask Natsu if he wanted to try and work with you…” Mirajane mused. After all, he was very interested in Mirajane herself, said that he liked her energy, and had even speculated on using her to help with spells when they’d first met. But then she remembered Gray, and she doubted he would take kindly to  _ two _ demons, especially if one of them ended up deeply connected with Natsu. “Or not… I doubt his friend would take that very well.” Her frown deepened. “But I’ll see what I can do.” 

“Oh, I was joking, Mira,” Lisanna said. “You don’t have to worry about me. Just worry about yourself for now, alright?” 

“But I’m your sister! It’s my job to take care of you!” 

“It is not!” Lisanna argued. “I want you to be happy and safe, just as much as you want me to be. So you better not make things more difficult for yourself by trying to talk some random witch into taking me on, understand? I’ve been surviving just fine for this long, haven’t I?” 

Mirajane groaned and crossed her arms. Truly, she didn’t know when Lisanna had become so stubborn. It was ridiculous. “Fine.” 

“Good!” Her sister clapped her hands together. “I’ll try and stop by again soon, alright? Oh! And since you have a physical body, you should try and check in on Elfman. I think that witch’s name was Evergreen?” 

She nodded. “Yeah, it was.” 

“Yeah, so you should try and find her, if you get the chance.” Her body shimmered, becoming even more transparent. “I’m sure he’d love to hear from you.” 

“Of course.” Mirajane had been considering it herself, but it was so much different navigating things with a real, physical body. That, and more often than not, she was trailing after Erza. She was sure the witch would let her go do whatever she wanted if she asked, but Mirajane was twitchy about being alone like this. It was just so  _ different, _ and she didn’t know much about how humans worked. “Oh, I meant to ask, do you know anything about demon curses?” 

“Demon curses?” Lisanna questioned, her voice beginning to sound fuzzy. “I don’t… think so? Or at least, I’ve never tried to curse anyone, obviously.” 

“Yeah, I didn’t think so,” Mirajane said with a sigh. After all, if she’d never heard of them, it was extremely unlikely Lisanna or Elfman had. “Thanks anyway though. Stay safe, alright?” 

Lisanna laughed. “You know I will!” And what little was left of her body vanished. 

A twinge of sadness settled in her chest as her sister vanished. She wished she could do more to help her, but Mirajane had no energy to help sustain her. Ever since they’d sprung to life (born from what, Mirajane wasn’t entirely sure) they’d just been scraping by. It was by some amazing chance that she’d found Erza, and she could only hope that Lisanna got that lucky one day. 

“What the hell are you doing up here?” 

Mirajane jumped, twisting around to see Kagura leaned against the door leading back down the stairs. “Uh…” 

“Figured you’d be down there glued to Erza’s side,” she said. 

“My sister came by to visit,” Mirajane said. “I’ve been feeling her presence since last night, so I came up here to talk with her for a few minutes.” 

_ “Sister?” _ Kagura demanded, leaning forward with interest. 

“Mmhm.” Mirajane stood up and brushed the dust off her pants. “I mean… I guess I don’t  _ really _ know if she’s my sister, but we’ve been together for as long as I can remember, so… yes, I call her my sister.” 

“So you’re communing with other demons?” she asked. “Does Erza know about this?” 

“I… I guess you could look at it that way,” she admitted. “And I didn’t tell her what I was doing, but I was planning to tell her about Lisanna when she wasn’t busy.” 

Kagura narrowed her eyes, but didn’t say anything else. 

“What… what are you doing up here?” Mirajane asked, trying to keep the conversation light. 

“Erza’s friend Cana came over,” she said. “Most of Erza’s friends drive me up the wall, so I come up here when they come to visit.” 

“Oh…” So far, Mirajane had liked all of Erza’s friends that she had met, for the most part. “Why don’t you like them?” 

“They’re loud and irresponsible.” 

Well, she couldn’t really dispute them being  _ loud. _ She’d begun to notice that herself. But she’d yet to notice anything  _ irresponsible. _ “What do you mean?” 

Kagura sighed and shook her head, stalking over to stand next to Mirajane and gaze out across the city. “They’re always messing around with new magic, ancient magic, biting off more than they can chew. Horrible influences on Erza. She’s the exact same as them. If she wasn’t so damn impulsive, you wouldn’t be here.” 

Mirajane shoved her hands in her pockets and gnawed on her lip. “Kagura…” If anyone would tell her, it would be her. She had yet to meet anyone as brutally honest as Kagura. “Why does everyone hate me?” 

Kagura glanced over at her, the setting sun reflected in her golden eyes. “I don’t think anyone  _ hates _ you. We’re all just protective of Erza, and don’t want anything to happen to her.” 

“But I don’t want to harm Erza,” she said. “I  _ never _ want to harm Erza.” 

Kagura snorted and leaned against the railing. “I think there are some people starting to believe you on that, Erza herself being one of them. Maybe you  _ would _ have had an easier time of it if you’d shown up before everything that happened with Gray, but you didn’t. So everyone is naturally suspicious of you.” 

“What… exactly happened to Gray?” She had no idea if it was alright to ask, but she was curious. Besides, maybe if she knew, she could start convincing him that she would never hurt Erza in the way that he had been hurt. 

“I don’t know the exact details,” Kagura said. “Just that a demon latched onto him, and… sort of left something behind. We call it a curse, we don’t know if that’s the correct term, but that’s all we’ve got. At first it wasn’t so bad, but it got steadily worse. Like I said, I wasn’t super involved, I didn’t see how bad it really got, but Ultear, Erza, Natsu… they got the worst of it. But then… like I said, you’ve already got Erza on your side, so whatever the hell it is you’re doing, I guess keep doing it, if you want to stay.” 

“I thought you wanted me to go,” she said. “That you didn’t want me here either.” 

Kagura shrugged. “Quite honestly, I couldn’t care less. I just want things to get… calmer, with or without you. I want you to leave so things go back to normal, or I want everyone else to get used to you being here and start acting like themselves again, yeah?” 

“Oh. I guess that makes sense.” At least that was one person in Erza’s life who was alright with her. Aside from Natsu. 

“Yeah. So get everyone to calm down, and then I’m fine with you,” she said. 

“Okay…” 

They lapsed into a silence, that was surprisingly comfortable. And Mirajane found that… maybe she liked Kagura, too. 

* * *

“Please tell me you’re bringing that hot piece of demon ass to my party next Saturday,” Cana said. 

“I—  _ what!?”  _ Erza shrieked. 

“Gray sent me a picture of her when I asked, and she is  _ fine _ as  _ hell!” _ She slung her arm over Erza’s shoulders. “If  _ you _ don’t get on that,  _ I’m _ going to. I think she’s got an even bigger rack than me!” 

_ “Cana!”  _ Erza couldn’t  _ believe _ Gray had encouraged her like that. Could  _ none _ of her friends stop gossiping about the stupid situation she’d gotten herself into? She was going to  _ kill _ Gray if he was speculating on the nature of her relationship with Mirajane with anyone other than Ultear or Natsu. “Stop it!” 

“I am just speaking the truth,” she said, pulling away and smirking. “But seriously, you’re coming Saturday, right? Levy told me you told her you would, so you better not be backing out now just because you and Gray had a little catfight.” 

“Oh my gods, why do you people have to tell each other  _ everything?”  _ she whined. 

“We do not,” she said. “Gray just talks to me when he needs someone with more critical thinking skills than Natsu. I’m not gonna go around telling anyone about that. The hell do you take me for? Like I said, I just wanna make sure you’re not gonna skip out on us because of that.” 

“My life is  _ kind of _ busy at the moment, Cana,” she pointed out. It wasn’t that she  _ didn’t _ want to go to her friend’s party, but she didn’t want to make it awkward for other people by bringing Mirajane, but if she went, Levy, Natsu, and now Cana would want her to bring Mirajane, too. 

“Okay, first of all, everyone knows by now that this demon isn’t trying to eat your soul or some shit like that,” she said. “Levy told us all about the soul binding thing so no one was freakin’ out, yeah?” 

“Dammit…” she murmured. That probably meant that Gray wasn’t the only one who was getting… ideas. 

“Second, even if she  _ was, _ I think you could take one day off from figuring out how to get rid of her to come drink and have a little fun,” she said, daring Erza to say no. 

Realistically, Erza knew she was right. There was no  _ real _ reason not to go. “Fine. I’ll be there. And I’ll  _ consider _ bringing Mirajane.” 

“Sweet!” She slapped Erza’s shoulder. “Oh, and it’s a costume party, but I know you don’t have any decent costumes, so I’m sending you out with Millianna to get some, for you and Mirajane, got it?” 

“What the hell? Why  _ Millianna?” _ she asked. 

“Because the bitch walks around cosplaying a catgirl every goddamn day, and no one can tell her no,” she said. “If anyone’s roping you into wearing an actual costume, it’s her.” 

“I have nothing against costumes!” she argued. “I like costumes! I just—” 

“Great, then it’s settled, you’ll go Thursday, alright?” Cana pushed herself up off the couch. “I’ll see you next Saturday.” 

* * *

“Do you think we can convince Ultear to let us use her employee discount?” Millianna asked. 

“I’m sure I can work something out,” Meredy said with a smile. “But  _ only _ if you go as something other than a cat.” 

“I go as a cat every year though!” Millianna protested. 

“Which is why you should do something different!” Meredy said, nudging her shoulder and poking at the cat ears the other woman wore. “You’re a cat every day!” 

“I like my ears! They’re cute!” Millianna held her hands over the ears. 

Erza sighed and shook her head. She didn’t think she’d seen Millianna without the cat ears since she’d bought them. Well, she’d been wearing cat ears pretty much her whole damn life, but she’d had that particular pair custom made to match her hair a couple years ago. 

“They are cute!” Mirajane agreed, standing on her tiptoes so she could get a better look at them. “I really like them! I want some cat ears!” 

“Oh! I have some old pairs,” Millianna said. “Do you want them? I can bring them with me next time I come over to hang out with Kagura!” 

“Really?” Mirajane squealed and bounced excitedly. “Please!” 

“Hell yeah!” Millianna punched her fist into the air. “Hey! Maybe she could be a cat!” 

“Ah, no, we should find some kind of matching costume for her and Erza!” Meredy said, before smirking at Erza and giving her a knowing look. 

Erza squeaked, and slapped her hands over her cheeks, hoping to hide the red that was spreading over them. From Gray to Ultear to Meredy, right? Probably. Gods, she hoped it wasn’t anyone else. However, she knew the gossip was already spreading lightning fast. After all, how much had everyone talked about Gajeel and Levy before they got together? Erza supposed this was karma for being involved with that. 

“Matching costumes?” Mirajane echoed. 

“Yeah!” Meredy bounded down another aisle. “Ultear and I almost always wear matching costumes on Halloween.” 

“Kagura barely dresses up at all,” Millianna lamented. “I wish I could get her to dress up with me.” 

“Bring her to Cana’s,” Erza suggested. “If she shows up without a costume, Cana’ll shove her into one by the end of the night.” 

“Maybe I will,” Millianna said with a smile. “Now come on, do you have any ideas? You could always just do something simple, if you’re not really feeling it. Like vampires, or something.” 

“Yeah, that’d probably be best—” Erza began. 

“Wait, I have the  _ best _ idea!” Meredy exclaimed, before grabbing Erza and Mirajane’s hands and dragging them through the store. “You’re gonna love it!” 


	7. Chapter 7

Kagura howled with laughter when they got home and Millianna proudly showed off the costumes she and Meredy had picked out for Erza and Mirajane. “I can’t believe you actually talked them into that! Ultear is going to  _ kill _ the both of you!” 

Erza groaned and flopped down on the couch. “Look, it wasn’t worth it to try and argue with them, alright? I just… it was easier to just go with it.” 

Kagura glanced between Erza and Mirajane. “So who’s the devil and who’s the nun? Both options are equally hilarious.” 

_ “Sexy _ devils and nuns,” Milliana said. “They’re going to be so fucking cute and hot!” 

Mirajane didn’t really understand what was so funny about this situation, or about the fact that Millianna had picked her out a skimpy outfit covered in crosses, but she wasn’t about to say that and embarrass herself. 

“We got the little devil horns for Erza,” Meredy said. “They match her hair!” 

“Cana is going to  _ love  _ this,” Millianna giggled. 

Blush spread across Erza’s cheeks. “Dear gods, no one let me drink at this party.” 

“Oh great, you can be the designated driver instead of me,” Kagura said. 

“You don’t even drink normally!” Erza argued. 

“Well watching this trainwreck unfold makes me want to!” she exclaimed. 

Erza jumped up from the couch. “I’m going to take a nap.” 

Mirajane glanced at Kagura, Millianna, and Meredy, before chasing after Erza. She wasn’t exactly tired herself, but she’d rather lay quietly in the bed next to Erza than listen to the other three women talk about things she didn’t understand. 

Though as soon as she opened the door to Erza’s bedroom, Mirajane realized that the witch wasn’t exactly tired either. She just sat at the end of her bed, picking at the various patches that had been sewn onto her jeans. “Oh, hey, Mira. I’m not actually going to sleep, but you can if you want to.” 

Mirajane shook her head and sat down next to her. “No, I just… I feel strange around other people without you. I don’t… know how to really talk to them.” The only ones she actually felt completely comfortable with were Erza herself, and her two siblings, who she still needed to actually tell Erza about. 

“Oh. They probably don’t really care,” she said. “Kagura’s pretty awkward herself. Meredy, too.” 

“Mm.” Mirajane still didn’t think they were nearly as bad. After all, she’d never noticed them as being awkward. “I still don’t… get things, a lot of the time.” She leaned against Erza, relishing in her warmth. 

Erza sat up straight, her muscles tensing up, but she relaxed a second later. “I know. That’s not your fault though.” 

Mirajane gnawed at her lip, her fangs pricking at her skin. “I’m… sorry that I don’t understand.” Her lack of socialization skills or understanding of how the world actually worked was probably getting annoying, wasn’t it? She had to follow Erza around everywhere, all the time, and Mirajane felt terrible that she was hindering her so badly. 

“You can’t help that,” Erza said, taking a deep breath. “I wish I had the time to… actually teach you, and that kind of thing, but…” 

“But what’s the point before I go?” Mirajane asked with a smile. She’d tried to make herself laugh, but she was worried it would sound too forced. “I’m sure you’ll figure out some way to unbind you from me soon.” 

Erza’s eyes widened, and she jerked around to stare at the demon. “Go…” 

“Because you want me to go. So I will.” It hurt. It really did. Mirajane had never wanted something as much as she wanted to stay with Erza, but she wouldn’t ask for that, not when it so clearly wasn’t what the witch wanted. Despite what Natsu and Kagura had said to her, Mirajane really didn’t think that this was the place for her. 

“It’s… it really isn’t that…” Erza attempted. “I just… I’m sorry. It’s hard to explain. I  _ do _ like you, Mira. But it’s just not that simple for me.” 

“I… I understand.” She really, really didn’t. But that was her problem, not Erza’s. 

Softly, Erza began to stroke her hair. “I’ll miss sharing my bed with you when you go. It’s so much warmer with you, and I love waking up to see your smile…” Her eyes drifted down to Mirajane’s lips, lingering there for a moment. 

“I’ll miss seeing you, too,” she said, desperately trying not to cry. It was easy to pretend this wasn’t the reality of their situation when other people were around. Mirajane could pretend she would get to spend the rest of her life holding Erza’s hand and following her around the city to meet different witches. But at times like this… she was reminded of how impossible that was. 

“Mira… I… I want to try something… is it alright if I kiss you?” Erza asked, her voice so soft Mirajane had to strain to hear her. 

“I… I don’t know what a kiss is,” Mirajane admitted. “But yes.” If it was something Erza wanted to try, she was sure it would be lovely. 

Erza blinked, clearly not expecting Mirajane to not know what a kiss was, but she didn’t let that deter her. “Come here.” She pulled her even closer, so close Mirajane could feel her warm breath on her face. “This is a kiss.” 

She pressed her lips against Mirajane’s, soft and gentle. Her fingers carded through her hair, and their bodies pressed together, so warm and lovely. 

Mirajane gasped, but did her best to return the gesture, holding the back of Erza’s head. 

Within a few seconds, Erza broke away, much to Mirajane’s disappointment, she’d liked whatever that was. The witch’s eyes grew comically wide and a confused yelping noise escaped her. 

“Erza…?” Had Mirajane done it wrong? 

Erza jumped up and dug her hands into her hair. “Oh gods, oh gods, why did I do that!?” She began to pace back and forth, all while muttering to herself. 

“Did I do something wrong?” Mirajane asked worriedly. 

“N-No!” Erza exclaimed. “No, you were great— You—  _ Fuck! _ I can’t be doing this.” She yanked her jacket off the hook on her door. “You stay here, I— I have to go run an errand.” 

“What?” Mirajane cocked her head. Quite obviously, Erza was upset about something, but if it really wasn’t something she had done, then what was it? 

“Don’t tell anyone we did that!” the witch requested. 

“Why? Is it… is it something bad?” she asked. 

“No, no, everyone does it with people they’re close to and care about, I just—” Erza sucked in a sharp breath. “For me? Just please don’t tell anyone?” 

“I won’t…” Mirajane assured her, though she was still very unclear about what was going on. 

“Thank you, thank you, I just— I’ll be back in a bit.” 

She dashed out the door, leaving behind an extremely confused Mirajane. 

* * *

_ “Levy!” _ Erza shrieked. “Levy, I need to talk to you!” She pounded harder on the apartment door. “Gods, Levy, please be home!” She hadn’t bothered to call ahead, and had just gotten over here as quickly as she possibly could, but Levy was  _ usually _ home. 

“Gods above, Scarlet, I’m fuckin’ coming!” Gajeel shouted. “Calm your tits!” 

Erza growled, but ceased banging on the door, and shifted to bouncing from foot to foot instead. 

Gajeel took his sweet time getting to the door, waiting at least a full two minutes before he swung his open and leaned against the doorframe. “So what the hell happened?” he asked. 

“What? Can’t I just come visit?” Erza asked. 

He scoffed and rolled his eyes. “When the  _ hell _ do you just casually come visit us on your own? Lev’s in her office.” He moved out of the way to let Erza inside. “Go on, I know it ain’t me you’re here for.” 

Erza nodded and marched inside, not even bothering to take her shoes off. She did mumble a quick hello to Wendy though, who was sitting on the couch and playing some video game. 

“Hi, Erza!” she chirped, not taking her eyes off Animal Crossing. 

She didn’t bother stopping for an actual conversation, just hurried her way to Levy’s office and threw the door open. “Levy! Levy, I think that soulmate spell is doing something weird!” 

Levy squeaked and practically fell out of her chair. “Erza!” 

She clenched her teeth, lunged forward, and gripped Levy by the collar of her dress. “Levy, what made me kiss Mirajane!?” She viciously shook the smaller woman. “It was that spell, wasn’t it! You said it wouldn’t do anything!” 

“You—” Levy blinked, her eyes growing wide. “You  _ kissed _ her?” 

“Yes! So what the hell is that spell doing to me!?” she demanded. 

“Oh…” Levy’s body began to shake with barely controlled laughter. “Oh, Erza, that spell isn’t  _ doing _ anything to you.” 

“Then why did I—” 

“You kissed her because you  _ wanted _ to kiss her,” Levy said, not even bothering to try and escape Erza’s grasp. “Like I said before, the soul binding won’t actually alter your feelings or perceptions of a person, it just signifies your compatible souls, and makes doing certain spells easier, because of a link between you. If you kissed her, it was completely of your own volition.” 

Erza let go of her, letting her fall back into her seat, and stumbled back a pace. “No… No, because that means that I— I— Oh my gods.” She buried her face in her hands, and bit at her lip to keep from screaming. “Oh my gods, I’m in love with a demon.” 

_ “In love _ might be stretching it,” Levy said. “At the moment, you’re probably just interested in her romantically, you know. But it’s not like it matters either way. Isn’t this a good thing, Erza? It’s lovely that you finally found someone!” 

She shook her head. “Levy, you don’t understand—” 

“What don’t I understand? You care about her, and she cares about you. There’s nothing  _ bad _ about this. What’s really going on, Erza?” 

And that was the question, wasn’t it? Why was Erza so against the idea of loving Mirajane? Of wanting her to stay? She’d enjoyed every moment she’d spent with the demon, she didn’t want to go back to sleeping alone, so why did she want her to go so badly? 

“I… I feel like I’m putting her above everyone else…” she admitted. 

Levy’s face scrunched up in confusion. “What are you talking about?” 

Erza took a deep breath, trying to steady her racing heart. “I… I just… Gray and Ultear want her gone, I don’t think they’ll ever be completely at ease around her. I feel like I’m spending so much time with her that I’m neglecting everyone else. I… I just…” 

“Erza…” Levy gently took her hand. “It’s not your job to cater your life to Gray and Ultear. I know how much you care about them, but Mirajane has done nothing wrong. It’s not on you to give up something you want, especially something that hasn’t actually hurt them, or you, or anyone else, just to make them more  _ comfortable. _ You, or Mirajane, aren’t responsible for that.” 

“But—” 

“And in regards to you spending more time with Mirajane rather than the rest of us… that’s normal when you start to date something. I spend a lot of time with Gajeel, Kagura spends a lot of time with Millianna. Do you ever feel upset or jealous when we do things like that?” 

“Well, no, but—” 

“Of course, you do need to set boundaries, you do need to tell Mirajane that sometimes you’ll want to spend some time with us without her, and you should encourage her to spend time with other people besides you, but once again, if anyone is getting genuinely upset that you want to spend time with Mirajane, that is  _ not _ your fault.” 

“I—” 

“You stretch yourself too thin, Erza,” Levy said with a small smile. “You always want to help us, you think it’s your responsibility to take care of us, especially Gray and Natsu. And I know they appreciate that, they  _ know _ you care about them, but you’re not betraying them or neglecting them if you decide you want to divide your time between them and Mirajane.” 

“I still feel bad…” she said. 

“And that’s… understandable, I guess,” Levy said. “But please, just think about this before you do something too rash. Don’t reject Mirajane, don’t unbind her from your soul, and don’t give up on her. Give this all, give  _ her _ a chance. And give Gray and Ultear the chance to actually work through this on their own.” 

“I…” Erza had come over here for advice, hadn’t she? Sure, maybe not this kind of advice, but it was still advice, nonetheless. “Alright.” 

“Good. Now maybe you should go talk to Mirajane about that kiss,” she said. “Since I’m assuming you just sprinted over here immediately.” 

“Actually I told her that everyone kissed each other if they were close,” she said. 

Levy groaned and shook her head. “Oh, Erza…. You just sent that poor girl  _ barreling  _ towards a misunderstanding.” 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me, pushing my "ace Natsu who can't differentiate between romantic and platonic feelings" agenda

True to her word, Mirajane didn’t bring the kiss up to anyone, despite how much she wanted to. She wanted to know what was so special about it, and why Erza had reacted that way to it. But she refused to go back on her word and betray Erza’s trust. She didn’t even ask Erza  _ herself _ about the kiss. 

The witch hadn’t brought it up either. Actually, she’d been acting rather odd around Mirajane for the past couple days. She’d started using her own blanket at night, rather than sharing like they used to. She stopped bringing Mirajane so many places, opting to leave her at the apartment more often than not. She’d also been…  _ staring _ at Mirajane a lot recently, like she was trying to figure something out. 

At first, Mirajane thought maybe Kagura had told her about Lisanna, so she’d decided to clear that up. Erza had been surprised to hear about the existence of her siblings, so that definitely wasn’t it, and Mirajane was too nervous to ask what else it might be. 

“Alright, I’m heading out. I’ve got classes, and then coffee with Levy and Cana, I’m not sure when I’ll be back,” Erza said, already grabbing her backpack and muffin from the counter. “Kagura might be back—” 

“I don’t want to be here alone again,” Mirajane said. 

Erza froze. 

“I… I get bored, and I’m… I’d like someone to talk to,” she said. 

“Uh…” Erza fidgeted with the doorknob. “I  _ guess _ I can come get you before I meet with Levy and Cana, but I can’t bring you to class.” 

Mirajane took a deep breath. “What about Natsu?” He had seemed to really like her, and Mirajane thought she liked him, too. “Could I… Could I do something with him?” 

Erza blinked in surprise, but nodded. “Um, yeah, sure. I’ll… give him a call, see if he’s doing anything. If he isn’t, I’ll tell him to come pick you up, alright?” 

“Okay!” Mirajane chirped, already smiling. Maybe she would get to see his cats again! 

“Right, then. I’ll see you later tonight.” 

* * *

“Mira!” Natsu exclaimed as he threw open the door to the apartment. “Erza says you want to hangout! I don’t know what the hell we’re gonna do today, but I’m sure we can figure out something!” 

Mirajane jumped off the couch, excitement flooding through her. Something about being around Natsu just put her at ease. “Can I see your cats again?” 

“Sure! What else do you wanna do? It’d probably be pretty boring just to sit in my apartment all day,” he said. 

“Oh, I don’t mind. Normally I’m here by myself, so at least I’ll have you to talk to. And cats to play with!” 

“Well if that’s what you wanna do!” he said with a grin. “Come on, let’s go.” 

* * *

Gray and Natsu’s apartment was not any cleaner the second time around. If anything, Mirajane thought it might have gotten messier. 

“Oh, you brought her back here.” 

Mirajane tensed up, and almost walked right back out the door. She hadn’t expected Gray! Which… was rather stupid on her part, considering she’d asked to come to his home, but she still hadn’t been prepared to see him. She’d been expecting to just spend some time with Natsu. 

It wasn’t that she  _ didn’t _ want to see Gray, she just… didn’t know how she should act around him. Should she just try and stay out of his way? Or should she try and be overly nice to him? Prove that she wasn’t going to hurt him or anyone else? 

“Yeah, she wanted to see the cats,” Natsu said. 

Gray hummed, and took a slow sip from his cup of coffee. 

“I—I can go—” Mirajane began to stammer. 

“Oh, no, it’s fine,” Gray said, though he certainly didn’t look  _ happy _ about it. “Stay for as long as you like.” 

“Gray…” Natsu sighed. 

“I said it’s fine,” he said, before setting his cup down on the counter and stepping towards the door. “I was gonna meet up with Loke today anyways, it’s been a while since we’ve hung out.” 

“Gray—” 

“No, it’s fine.” He grabbed her coat from the chair next to the door and brushed past them. “I’ll be back later.” He slammed the door just a little too hard, and Mirajane winced. 

“I am so sorry—” she began. 

“It’s not your fault,” Natsu said, shaking his head. “I’ve tried talking to him, he just…” 

Mirajane bit her lip, not liking how many people kept assuring her that things “weren’t her fault.” Because it really did feel that way, and the more people that told her it wasn’t so, made her think they might all be secretly blaming her for it anyways. “Me and my siblings don’t even know anything about demon curses…” she attempted. 

“How much do you know?” Natsu asked as he kicked off his sandals, picked up Gray’s unfinished cup of coffee, and took a sip of it. He grimaced, and stepped over to the fridge to grab the coffee creamer from it. “Don’t understand how the bastard drinks straight black coffee. You want any, Mira?” 

“No, I’m okay. And… and not much,” she said. “I didn’t wanna ask Erza, but I overheard a little bit when they… when they fought, and Kagura mentioned that he had been cursed, but… that’s all I really know.” 

“Ah, okay.” He filled the rest of the cup with the creamer, and sat down at the table, motioning for Mirajane to sit across from him. “So, what all do you want to know?” 

She fell into the chair across from him. “Huh?” 

“You wanna know, don’t you?” he asked. “I know I would. Besides, since he’s been being an ass to you, you deserve to know why. And if you’re gettin’ so close with Erza, you’ll probably find out eventually anyways.” 

Mirajane fidgeted with the hem of her shirt. “I… I guess. How did he even get cursed?” 

Natsu took a deep breath. “When Gray was real young, his family died. They were witches too. The official bullshit everyone got fed was that it was a double suicide, but the woman that adopted Gray after, Ur, said it was a spell that had gone wrong, and a demon had gotten involved.” 

Mirajane paled, already feeling sorry for Gray. 

“Ur took care of him for a long time, she was Ultear’s mom. Just after Gray turned seventeen, he talked Ultear, and his other adoptive brother, Lyon, into helping him try and summon a demon to learn what happened to his parents.” Natsu smiled wryly. “Everyone else was real pissed that he didn’t tell us what he was up to. It went bad. Really bad, and Ur stepped in to try and stop the ritual, and she ended up getting killed in the process. She managed to kill the demon, and we… we all thought that was the end of it.” 

Mirajane clenched her fists so tightly her nails dug into her palms, even through the fabric of her t-shirt. 

“Me and Gray got this place, Ultear moved in with Kagura and Erza, and Lyon moved in with some friends of his. Obviously none of ‘em were in a good headspace, so it took a bit for us to realize there was something  _ wrong _ with Gray,” he continued. “He wasn’t acting like himself, but we all thought it was just grief, you know?” 

She nodded. 

“About a year after it happened, he wasn’t any better. Actually, he was just getting worse. He had pretty bad mood swings, was isolating himself real bad, and lashed out at pretty much anyone who tried to talk to him about it. It wasn’t until his magic started feeling different and these black markings started to appear on his body that we figured out something was really  _ wrong.”  _ He clutched at his coffee mug tighter, his knuckles turning white. “I’m still pissed at myself for not noticing sooner… He’s my best friend, I  _ live _ with him for fuck’s sake…” He clenched his teeth. 

Mirajane reached across the table and patted his hand. She had no idea how to comfort him, she was still trying to process all the horrible things Gray had lived through because of demons, but she didn’t like seeing Natsu upset. 

He offered her a grateful smile. “We did some research, and figured out it was basically a curse. As that demon, Deliora, had died, basically he’d lashed out, and Gray was the best thing to take out his hate on. If it weren’t for Gray’s magic, Freed said he probably wouldn’t have even survived, but his magic altered and… I don’t know, mutated this curse, so it just  _ latched onto _ Gray instead of killing him.” 

Now  _ that _ made sense to Mirajane. If there was anything demons were good at, it was latching onto people, energies, magics, whatever it may be. It didn’t surprise her that one could accomplish something similar, even after death. 

“So of course, we all tried to figure out how to get rid of it, how to fix him.” He frowned, and began to tap against the table. “I wasn’t much help, research ain’t my thing. I just… just tried to be there for him, yeah? But he was just getting worse, and no one was getting anywhere on how to get rid of the curse. He had to wear bandages or gloves when he went out to cover up the markings.” He held up his hand and wiggled his fingers. “They covered his entire hand, and were working their way up past his elbow. And he… well obviously he knew what was going on, he had some pretty bad breakdowns over it. Levy realized it was probably making negative emotions worse, which was why he was so angry and upset. He… he knew it was irrational, but really I think that only made it worse, made him more confused and upset, because he knew he shouldn’t be feeling that way, but he couldn’t do anything about it.” 

“Yeah, that… that makes sense.” Mirajane stared down at the table, trying to imagine how  _ she _ would feel in that scenario, not even able to trust her own emotions or feelings. 

“Like I said, sometimes he took it out on other people. Mostly me, since we were living together and I… I could get pretty pushy sometimes. We had some… pretty bad fights.” He hung his head. “Our worst one was this night when Wendy had come to stay. She’s my cousin, she actually lives with Gajeel and Levy, but she came to stay with me pretty often. I don’t even remember what actually started it, some fucking stupid thing, probably. It was pretty late, so I just assumed Wendy was asleep and didn’t think too much about it. We probably woke her up with how loud we were being. Looking back on it, I’m surprised none of our neighbors called the cops or anything.” 

Mirajane wished she’d taken him up on his offer of coffee. If only so she would have something else to turn her attention to. 

“When we were younger, we fought each other all the time. Physically, I mean. But it was more for fun? So it wasn’t… weird for us to actually fight, except… you know, obviously it would’ve been different that night. I know  _ I _ was thinking about throwing some punches. We didn’t, but we probably would have if Gajeel and Levy hadn’t shown up.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m still pretty embarrassed about it. Gray was influenced by bad magic, but I should have—” He shook his head. “It’s not like it matters now. Turned out Wendy had gotten scared and called them, so while Gajeel got between us, Levy went and got Wendy from her room. Gods, I still feel awful. She’d been cryin’ her eyes out, and I didn’t even—” 

Mirajane jumped up from her seat, and rushed around the table to wrap him in a hug. “It’s not your fault! It’s not! It was that— that horrible demon’s—!” 

Natsu laughed softly and hugged her back. “I know that, Mira. Gods, sorry for just dumping all this on you. Probably a bit too much detail.” 

She shook her head. “No, no, it’s okay. I—I understand why he… why he’s so suspicious of me now.” She held Natsu tighter, and buried her face in the crook of his neck. “I can’t blame him, after someone like me did all that to him.” 

“Nah, Mira, you’re nothing like that thing,” he assured her. “That’s like saying all humans are terrible, ‘cause one did something shitty.” 

“But—” 

“No, really.” He pulled away from her. “And I think Gray  _ does _ understand that, but he… you know…” 

“He… he got help, right?” Mirajane asked. “I asked my sister if she knew anything about curses, but she said she didn’t—” 

Natsu waved her off. “It’s okay, Mira. We’ve got it under control now, but it’s nice that you… tried.” He rubbed his wrist. “That silver cuff he wears? It uh… it basically cancels out the curse. Because after… that whole ordeal, Levy got  _ obsessive, _ and got Freed and Laki to help. It took about a month, and then she figured it out. She and Gajeel made that bracelet for him, worked all kinds of light magic and charms into it. Everyone helped how they could, and we all worked some of our magic into it. I don’t know the specifics of how it works or how it was made, but yeah… Gray had Gajeel actually  _ weld  _ it onto him. He couldn’t take it off even if he wanted to, because… if it comes off, it stops working. But yeah, he’s okay now. Well… as okay as he can be after all that.” 

“I’m… I’m glad he’s okay…” Mirajane said helplessly. What else  _ could _ she say? Gray and Natsu had been through  _ so much, _ all because a demon had… had… 

“Hey, what are you cryin’ for?” Natsu asked as he stood up. “We’re all okay, ain’t we? You’re real nice, you know that, Mira? I’m glad Erza’s got you.” 

Mirajane gasped, and wiped the tears away from her eyes. “I… I don’t know, I just—” 

“Yeah, I’m real glad that Erza’s got you,” he said with a smile. 

“What… what do you mean?” 

“Well she’s always been so worried about everyone else that she never takes care of herself. She doesn’t really tell me and Gray much, I don’t think she wants to worry us, even though we’ve told her we don’t mind.” He shook his head. “She’s fucking stubborn. So I’m glad she’s got you now.” 

Mirajane didn’t really think much about it. Erza had said people did it with people they cared about, right? And she cared about Natsu. 

So she leaned forward and kissed him. 

Natsu’s entire body stiffened as he squeaked and jerked back. “Uh…” His eyes widened, and his hand drifted up to touch his lips. “I’m  _ so _ confused.” 

Heat  _ rushed _ across Mirajane’s face, and she quickly realized she’d just messed up somehow. 

“I-I’m flattered,” Natsu said with a nervous laugh. “But I’m really not—really not into that.” 

“B-But Erza said you were supposed to do that with people you care about!” she exclaimed. 

“Gods above, Mira, you don’t just  _ kiss _ people! I don’t even kiss Gray!” he said. “W-Well, I mean we do sometimes… on occasion. But that’s not… That’s not important right now!” Blush spread across his own cheeks. “You do that with—with people you wanna date, or-or something,” he stammered. “I don’t know! I don’t know shit about that kinda thing!” 

“But Erza said when we kissed that—” 

“Erza  _ kissed you!?” _ he shrieked. “Kissed you and then told you  _ that!?”  _

“Y-Yeah.” 

“I’m going to  _ kill _ her!” Natsu shouted, before he froze. “No, no I’m not. She’d beat my ass. But Mira, people kiss each other for—for like—Gods, why am I the one explaining this?” He fished his phone out of his pants pocket and quickly called someone, anxiously tapping his foot while he waited on them to pick up. 

Mirajane just stared at him, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Was kissing someone a bigger deal than Erza had made it seem? That made sense, based on what Natsu was saying… but… 

“Gray!” he exclaimed. “Get your ass back here, I need you to explain to Mira what kissing someone means!” 

Mirajane did her best not to fidget. Now that she knew everything that he had gone through, she felt even worse about forcing Gray to spend time around her. 

“Because I don’t know how!” Natsu continued. “And she  _ kissed me! _ It was weird and gross!” He shot her a glance. “No offense, Mira.” 

“Uh…” 

“Because Erza kissed her and then told her that people just kissed other people!” 

A few seconds later, he hung up. “He said he’d be back in ten minutes and that he’d just reschedule with Loke.” 

Mirajane forced a smile. “Great.” 

* * *

“Ultear owes me thirty fucking dollars,” Gray said as he marched back into the apartment. “She said Erza wouldn’t be dumb enough to fall in love with a demon, but I told her she didn’t know Erza well enough then.” 

“I can’t believe Erza kissed her!” Natsu exclaimed, rushing over to grab Gray by the shoulders and shake him. “I can’t believe she kissed me! I feel like I need to go brush my teeth!” 

“Oh, shut up, Natsu.” Gray rolled his eyes. “Most people would kill to get a kiss from a woman as hot as that.” 

“What?” Mirajane asked. 

Gray sighed and shook his head, worming his way out of Natsu’s grasp. “So Erza kissed you, huh? You didn’t kiss her?” 

“I… I didn’t really know what kissing was until she… she asked if she could try something, and then we… yeah.” She shoved her hands into her pockets and stared at her feet. “I didn’t know it was something so weird.” 

“It’s not  _ weird, _ it’s just…” He groaned. “Gods, why do we have to be the ones to deal with this? Can’t Cana? Or Levy, or something?” 

“Come on, Gray.” Natsu nudged his shoulder. “It’s been a long time since Erza liked someone, you want her to be happy, don’t you?” 

“I—” He narrowed his eyes. “But she—” He glanced towards Mirajane, and she knew what he’d been about to say. 

_ But she’s a demon. _

“Gray, please. Please, just give her a chance,” Natsu requested. “For Erza’s sake. And trust  _ me _ on this, yeah?” 

Gray took a deep breath and closed his eyes, like he was trying to calm himself down. “I… I want to. And I told Erza I would try…” 

“Right.” Natsu took his hand and gave it a light squeeze. “And you know I can’t really help with this kind of thing.” 

Gray muttered something under his breath, but then turned back to Mirajane. “So Erza kissed you. What happened next?” 

“She just… left,” Mirajane said. “I think she went to go talk to Levy. And… and we haven’t talked about it again. Are you supposed to talk about it?” 

“In your situation, I’d say yes,” Gray said. “Alright, Mira, I need you to answer me honestly. What are your feelings for Erza?” 

“She’s amazing!” she exclaimed. 

“Yeah, yeah, but what do you actually feel for her?” he asked. 

“Well… well I…” Mirajane frowned. “I…” What  _ did _ she feel for Erza? Had she really ever thought that hard about it? She was far more worried with how Erza, and countless other people, felt, to really focus on her own feelings and emotions. “I love being around her, she feels so lovely, it’s just the best.” 

“Right…” Gray shot Natsu a look, who gave him a reassuring nod. “Did you like it when Erza kissed you?” 

“Yes!” She vigorously nodded her head. 

“And when you kissed Natsu?” he asked. “Did you like that?” 

“Uh… no… not really,” she admitted. “It was… weird.” 

“Yes, well, probably because Natsu is a horrible kisser,” Gray began. 

_ “Hey!” _

“Also, most people kiss people they like romantically or something, you know?” Gray said. “So that’s it, isn’t it? You wanna date Erza?” 

“Date… Erza?” Mirajane echoed. 

“Yeah, like uh… like Gajeel and Levy date each other, or Millianna and Kagura, or Ultear and Meredy, you know?” he said. 

“Like you and Natsu?” Mirajane asked. She thought maybe she understood that. They were very close, weren’t they? 

“Um…” Gray and Natsu exchanged a look. “We’re not exactly dating,” Gray said. “It’s… Look, Mira, no offense, but you’re having a hard enough time wrapping your head around this, I’m not introducing you to the whole plethora of relationships that exist right now, alright?” 

She nodded. “Okay.” Gray was trying to help her, and she wasn’t going to make it worse by asking unnecessary questions or prying into anymore of his business. 

“So… when you watch any of those other people interact, do you think you would like to be like that with Erza?” he asked. 

_ “Yes!”  _ Mirajane bounced on the balls of her feet. “Yes, yes I do!” That one was easy!  _ Of course _ she wanted to be that close with Erza, that important to her! 

“Well there you go,” Gray said, something resigned in his voice. “And since Erza kissed you, I’m assuming she feels the same way and just isn’t…” His eyes widened. “Oh fuck, it’s because of me, isn’t it?” 

“Probably…” Natsu said softly. 

_ “Shit. _ I didn’t—I—” 

“Gray, it’s fine, just make sure you talk to her soon, alright?” Natsu told him. 

He nodded, and ran his hand down the side of his face. “Yeah, yeah, you’re right, I…” He turned his attention back to Mirajane. “You need to ask her out.” 

“Ask her… out?” 

“I swear to the gods…” Gray pinched the bridge of his nose. “Okay, so people who like each other decide to ask each other out. It’s… If she says yes, then there you go, you’ll be dating. Maybe you’ll even be wives one day. I’m sure Erza will say yes, you just need to ask. Just… just maybe wait a few days, so I can… talk to her first.” 

“Really?” Mirajane breathed, her eyes growing wide. All she had to do was ask, and maybe she would get to experience something so lovely with Erza? 

“Yeah, just—” Gray began. 

“Thank you!” Mirajane surged forward and took his hand in her own. “Thank you, so much! I’m sorry I—” Her fingers brushed the silver cuff on his wrist, and it a small, electric jolt raced through her body. 

Gray gasped and shoved her back, clutching at his wrist. 

“Gray…?” Natsu tried to pull him closer, but he was shoved away too. “Gray!” 

“It—It came back—It—” His breathing began to deepen, and his fingers curled tighter around the silver on his wrist. “I felt it—wh-when she touched it—” 

Natsu let out an alarmed noise, and pried Gray’s fingers away from the cuff so he could inspect it closer. “Just stay calm, Gray, alright?” he said, though his own voice shook. “It might have been your imagination—” 

“I  _ know _ what it feels like, Natsu!” Gray snapped, and Mirajane could see it in his eyes. 

He was  _ scared. _ Scared, because Mirajane had touched him, and something about her presence, her touch, might have reactivated—

Her hands shot up to cover her mouth, and her eyes stung with tears. 

Why did she always mess everything up? 

“I’ll charm it again,” Natsu said, doing his best to keep Gray calm, but considering how frantic the other man looked, Mirajane didn’t think it was working. “I’ll charm it, and then we’ll go straight to Levy and Gajeel, alright? They can look at it and—” 

“I can’t  _ do _ this again, Natsu!” Gray’s voice shook with barely contained emotion. “I just can’t—I—” His eyes shot to Mirajane, and she could see the blame in them. 

“I-I’m sorry…” she stammered. “I didn’t mean to, I didn’t know that I—” She swallowed thickly and backed away a step. 

“Mira, go back to Erza’s,” Natsu said firmly. 

“But I—” 

“It’s not that far,” he said, still not taking his eyes off Gray, like he was inspecting him for those black markings he’d told her about this morning. “You can make it back on your own, can’t you?” 

“I-I think so—” 

“So go!” he shouted. 

“I’m sorry,” she attempted one more time, before scrambling for the door as quickly as she could, still fighting back tears. “I didn’t mean to!” 

_ I didn’t mean to…  _


	9. Chapter 9

Erza had ditched her classes as soon as Natsu had called her and told her what happened. He’d assured her that Gray was okay (for the time being), but she really wanted to come check on him as quickly as she could and find out more about what had actually happened. But at the moment, she needed to make sure that Mirajane was okay. Despite Natsu being sure that the demon could make it back home just fine, she could be… a little ditzy at times, and Erza didn’t want to risk her wandering around and getting lost. It wasn’t like she had a phone so she could call anyone if she did. 

Her worry only increased when she rushed back to the apartment, and Mirajane wasn’t there. Quite obviously she hadn’t gone back to Gray and Natsu’s, they would have told her, which left her combing the streets in between their apartments, hoping that the demon hadn’t already taken too many wrong turns and gotten hopelessly lost. 

“Mira!” she called. “Mira, come on!” Gods, she was going to  _ kill _ Natsu for telling her to leave. She supposed she could understand; he’d wanted her away from Gray while he got him calmed back down, but he could have sent her to another room, out to the hall, or  _ something, _ at least until Erza could get her and take her home. 

If she didn’t find her soon, she was going to call some people to help her look. 

“Mirajane!” This was her third pass of the route between the apartments, and she was getting even more worried. “For the love of the gods, Mira—” 

A flash of white hair had her rushing down the busy sidewalk. “Mirajane! Mira!” Relief spread through her chest as she realized it  _ was _ the demon, shuffling down the street, with a… cat… in her arms?

“Oh…” Mirajane turned around, her eyes puffy and red from crying. “I’m sorry… I… forgot the way back… and didn’t want to go too far and get lost…” She reached up to rub at one of her eyes, leaving the cat squirming in her other arm. 

“Where’d you get the cat?” she asked. 

Mirajane glanced down at it, and stroked its gray fur. “I hid next to some trash cans for a while… it was looking for food in them. It looked… sad.” 

You _ look sad, _ Erza almost said, but she bit her tongue. “Come on. Let’s go back home.” 

“Can I… bring the cat?” she asked softly, still clinging onto it for dear life. 

“Uh…” Erza gave it a closer look, taking note of how scrawny it was and the matts in its fur. It clearly wasn’t anyone’s pet. “I guess. Don’t know if we’ll keep it, but we can feed it, give it a bath and stuff, alright?” 

Mirajane nodded. 

“Come on.” Erza wrapped her arm around the demon’s shoulders and guided her back towards the apartment. “It’s okay.” 

“I messed up…” she whispered. 

Erza shook her head. “Natsu told me what happened. You didn’t mess up. You didn’t know that touching his bracelet could do that. None of us did. That’s not on you.” 

“But I—” 

“Natsu said to tell you sorry,” she said. “He wasn’t mad at you, and he wanted to make sure you knew that. He just… wanted you out of there so he’d have an easier time calming Gray down.” 

“Oh… okay…” 

“Yeah, now come on.” Erza held her tighter. “Let’s go home, eat some of that strawberry cake Kagura made last night, and give that nasty cat a bath, alright?” 

Mirajane nodded. 

* * *

“Oh my gods, grab it!” Erza shrieked, lunging for the cat, but missing just by a few inches. It leaped onto the bathroom sink, soaking even more of the bathroom. “Close the door!” 

Mirajane scrambled to her feet and tried to close the door, but her feet slipped out from underneath her and she fell face forward, landing with a soft  _ oof. _

“Mira!” 

The cat jumped down from the sink and darted out of the bathroom, and given how twitchy it was, they were probably going to have a hell of a time catching it again. “Oh, godammit.” 

Erza leaned down to pull Mirajane to her feet, before she slipped on all the water and soap on the bathroom floor herself and landed on top of the demon. 

“Ouch!” Mirajane yelped. 

“Sorry…” Erza groaned, not even bothering to get up and laying her head down between Mirajane’s shoulder blades. 

Honestly, the reason she’d been so open to bringing the cat back was because she’d hoped it would distract Mirajane from her guilt, that maybe feeding it and bathing it and taking care of it would get her mind off of everything. Unfortunately, it worked a little too well, because that cat was a fucking  _ devil.  _

Ultear appeared in the bathroom doorway, scowling at the mess the room had become. “There’s a soaking cat hiding underneath the couch.” She leaned against the doorway. “My brother is here to talk to you. Give him that dumbass cat before he leaves, he’s always liked them more than me.” 

“Gray’s here…?” Quite honestly, Erza hadn’t been expecting that. At all. 

Ultear nodded. “Mmhm. Said he wants to talk to you. And her.” She gestured toward Mirajane. “He looks like hell.” 

Mirajane whimpered. 

“Well come on.” Erza pushed herself up and attempted wringing out her soaked t-shirt. She didn’t know what she was expecting from Gray. Was he going to chew her out again for getting so close with Mirajane? Gods, she was glad he didn’t know she’d kissed her. 

Mirajane was reluctant to get up off the floor, but Erza tugged her up. “Come on. I’m sure it’ll be okay.” 

Ultear raised an eyebrow, but surprisingly didn’t comment and stalked off to hide in her room, though Erza had no doubt she would be intently listening through the walls to their conversation with Gray. 

Erza nudged Mirajane towards the living room, ignoring the water dripping from both their clothes. 

Gray sat on their couch, the soggy cat already in his lap. “You can’t just shove cats into baths, you know?” he said, gently stroking its fur. “It would have worked better to just use a little bit of water and some towels.” He glanced over at them. “I think you got cleaner than this thing did.” 

Mirajane shifted uncomfortably next to Erza, and wouldn’t even look at Gray. 

“You doing okay?” Erza asked. “Natsu… told me what happened. I was planning on coming by later tonight, but—” 

He shook his head, and gestured to the silver cuff. “It’s… it’s fine now. Natsu charmed it again, and we’re gonna go talk to Levy and Gajeel about it tomorrow. I… I guess being touched by another demon… kinda put it on the fritz.” 

“I’m so sorry…” Mirajane said, as she clung onto Erza’s arm for dear life. “If I’d known I never would have—” 

“Look, Mirajane,” Gray interrupted. “I… I don’t… blame you…” 

Mirajane stared at him. 

“Okay, maybe I do,” he amended. “But I shouldn’t. I’m sorry that I do, and I’m… I’m not going to take it out on you. You haven’t done anything wrong.” Gently, he placed the cat down on the floor, and it wiggled beneath the couch again. “Just… please don’t touch it again.” 

“I won’t!” Mirajane shook her head. “I promise I won’t!” 

“Thanks… Now uh…. Can I talk to Erza, alone?” he asked. 

Erza narrowed her eyes. Already, she was surprised that he’d come here without Natsu, especially a few mere hours after that disaster had unfolded, but then he’d sort of apologized to Mirajane. “Uh, yeah, sure. Come on. We’ll go up to the roof. Mira, why don’t you feed that cat while we’re gone? See if you can coax it out from underneath the couch.” 

Mirajane nodded. “Yeah, okay!” She rushed into the kitchen. “I think I saw some tuna in the cabinet yesterday!” 

“Right…” Gray stood up. “Come on, then.” 

They climbed the stairs to the roof in awkward silence, and Erza still had no idea what she thought Gray was going to say to her. 

“Look, Gray, she really didn’t mean to—” Erza began as soon as she shut the door to the roof behind her. 

“Ask her out,” Gray interrupted. 

“W-What?” 

“You heard me.” He crossed his arms. “Stop looking for a way to get rid of her, and ask her out. I know that’s what you want.” 

“But what about you?” she asked. “I—” Erza couldn’t really deny that she wanted Mirajane to stay. Hell, she’d  _ kissed _ her. There was no denying the feelings she’d had after her first night with Mirajane, if she was really being honest with herself. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, or risk that curse flaring up again!” 

“I was fine until Mira touched the bracelet, so I think it’s safe to assume as long as she doesn’t do that, I’ll be okay,” he said. “Besides, like I said, Levy and Gajeel are going to look at it, try and reinforce it. I admit I freaked out earlier, but…” He sighed and shook his head. “Me being wary around her is  _ my _ problem. My problem that  _ I _ need to fix. It’s not your responsibility, and it’s not just Mirajane I’m discrediting, it’s you and Natsu too.” 

“Gray…” 

“So ask her out,” he said. “I know you kissed her.” 

Erza gasped, and heat rushed across her face, all the way to the tips of her ears. 

Gray chuckled and shook his head. “So come on, Erza. Quit trying to act like you don’t like her. For Mira’s sake, and the sake of the rest of us who are having to watch this. You  _ know _ that demon is in love with you. Or could you really not tell from the  _ everything  _ about her?” 

“I… I…” Erza genuinely didn’t know what to  _ say. _ Gray was really okay with… 

Gray patted her shoulder. “Maybe ask Cana or Ultear for some advice first though. If you want to actually be romantic about it.” 

“The hell do you know about romance?” Erza lightly shoved him. 

“I can be romantic! It’s not  _ my _ fault I’m always with Natsu, who doesn’t have a fucking romantic bone in his body.” He snorted. “But really, Erza. I don’t want you throwing this away, and not even giving this girl a chance because of  _ my _ issues. And if Ultear gives you any grief over it, let me know and I’ll talk to her, alright?” 

“Yeah…. Yeah, okay.” Erza smiled, and pulled him into a hug. “So long as you let me know what I need to do to help with that cuff, okay? You want me to charm it again, like Natsu did?” 

“Yeah, if you don’t mind,” he said. “I’m sorry I’ve been so difficult about all of this…” 

“Not your fault,” she assured him. “Oh, and please take that cat with you. I don’t think me and Ultear can handle it, but I just couldn’t tell Mira no when she found it.” 

“Yeah, yeah, fine.” Gray pulled back. “At least until we find a more permanent place for it. Me and Natsu really don’t need any more pets. Speaking of Natsu… after you charm this thing again—” He gestured to his bracelet. “I probably need to go. I think he got just as freaked out as I did about the whole… you know… I just wanted to come over here and talk to you two as soon as I could about it.” 

“Okay. Come on, let’s go back downstairs and I’ll charm it for you,” Erza said. “And then I’ll see you at Cana’s this weekend, yeah?” 

“Yeah.” He smiled. “Make sure you bring Mira.” 

“Of course.” 


	10. Chapter 10

“Here, your veil… thingie… is crooked,” Erza said, before frowning. “I don’t actually know what they call these things. Is it a veil?” She readjusted Mirajane’s headband, and fluffed her hair up beneath the veil. 

“I can’t believe  _ she’s _ the sexy nun,” Ultear said. “If anyone should have been a sexy nun, it should have been me! It would match my aesthetic perfectly!” 

“It’s the irony,” Meredy said from her place beneath Ultear, letting her girlfriend practically lay on top of her to do her makeup. “Isn’t it great?” 

Ultear smirked. “I admit, it is rather funny. Now hold still, dear, or I’m going to mess up your eyeliner.” 

“You’re going to be late,” Erza said as she looked in the mirror to adjust her own devil horns. 

“I’m always late,” Ultear said. “I have to make a good entrance.” 

“I think Kagura’s already there.” 

“And Kagura’s always early, because she’s crazy,” she said. 

Erza snorted. “Yeah, yeah. Well, Mira and I will be  _ on time. _ Because we’re normal. Come on, Mira. Let’s head over to Cana’s.” 

“Take some pepper spray and a knife for when you get catcalled,” Ultear said. “Your asses and tits are out.” 

Erza rolled her eyes. “Blame Millianna for that one. But I do look damn good. And so does Mira!” 

Mirajane blushed and ducked her head. She wasn’t used to such… revealing outfits, but she did like it, and she liked how… complementary Erza was about it. She’d been given her a lot of complements and attention the past few days, ever since she had talked to Gray. Mirajane wondered if she should “ask her out,” like Gray had told her to. 

Because he’d said he was okay with it, right? So she should do it! Yeah! 

“Come on, Mira.” Erza took her hand and intertwined their fingers. “Let’s get going.” 

* * *

“You were supposed to wear a costume,” Cana said. 

“I am wearing a costume,” Kagura said, her expression completely flat. “See.” She pointed to her Naruto headband, the only thing that was any different from her normal attire. 

“That’s so fucking lame,” Cana complained. “Look at that!” She gestured to Millianna, who was dancing with Arana and Loke. “Your girlfriend came as like… the sexy vampire chick from the Underworld movies! She got a wig and everything!” 

“Those are just her regular clothes, she got the wig and fangs for the costume,” Kagura said. 

“Ugh, you are so boring.” Cana shook her head and rolled her eyes. The brunette took a swig from her beer bottle, and slung her arm over Mirajane’s shoulders. “Even Erza’s hot new demon girlfriend got dressed up.” She grinned at her and wiggled her eyebrows. 

Mirajane smiled. “Thank you!” She’d never really been to a party before, and it was… interesting. It was so  _ loud. _ Both the music and all the people. Plus the only lights were flashing rainbow lights Cana had decorated her apartment with, along with decorations similar to the ones Ultear had put up. 

“By the way…” Cana leaned even closer, and Mirajane could smell the booze on her breath. “You wouldn’t happen to know any other hot demons, would you?” 

“Oh my gods…” Kagura muttered. “I’m going to get a goddamn drink.” 

“Uh… I have a sister,” Mirajane said. “I think she’s pretty!” 

“Oh?” Cana grinned. “You wanna give her my number?” 

Mirajane bounced a little. “She doesn’t have a phone, but next time she has enough energy to manifest I’ll introduce you!” Maybe Cana would help Lisanna! She was a witch, too, wasn’t she? 

“I don’t know what that means, but sounds good to me,” Cana said. “You wanna drink Mira? I think you should have a drink.” 

“Do you have any grape juice?” she asked. 

“Uh… personally I don’t think this is a wine type of party but I’ve got some bottles in the cupboard, one minute.” She let go of her, and slunk through the crowd. 

Mirajane hummed, and scanned the crowd. Erza had disappeared not too long after they’d got here, and she wondered where she’d gone.

_ “Mira!” _ Natsu rushed out of the crowd, and practically pounced on her. “Mira, it’s good to see you!” He leaned against her, all his jewelry jingling. “M’sorry about what happened last time. Didn’t mean to yell…” He poked her nose. “You’re… you’re cute….” 

Mirajane did her best to smile, but she wasn't used to anyone other than Erza being quite so close to her. “Oh, it’s okay, Natsu. You were worried.” 

He grinned, and pressed so close Mirajane was practically holding him up. “So are you Erz’s girlfriend… demon— Demon-friend!” His eyes lit up as he laughed. “Yeah, demon-friend!” 

“Dear gods, Natsu, leave her alone.” Gray worked his way out of the crowd and yanked him away from Mirajane. “You’re face-first in her boobs!” 

“She’s Erza’s demon-friend!” he exclaimed. 

“Sorry about him,” Gray said. “Idiot can’t handle his alcohol and did like four shots the second we got here.” 

“Oh, he’s drunk?” Mirajane leaned a little closer, inspecting him. He  _ did _ look a little flushed, beneath the dragon scales that had been drawn on his cheeks. 

“Hell yeah!” Natsu shouted. “Gray! Gray, let’s go dance!” 

“Very drunk,” Gray said. “Go on, Natsu, I’ll come dance with you in a minute.” 

Natsu dashed back into the crowd, quickly forgetting all about Mirajane. 

“Sorry about him, he gets really clingy when he’s drunk, with literally anyone who’ll let him latch onto them,” Gray said. “Don’t mind him. Now… has Erza asked you out yet?” 

Mirajane shook her head. “No… was she supposed to?” 

“Hm…” Gray narrowed his eyes. “She’s upstairs, I think you should go talk to her, yeah?” 

“Cana said she’s bringing me wine,” she protested. 

“Yeah, I think you should be sober for this.” He pulled her out of her corner and nudged her towards the stairs. “Go on. I’ll tell Cana she can give you the wine later.” 

“Okay…” 

* * *

“Erza, honey, just ask her out!” Levy said. “You  _ know _ she’s going to say yes! Why haven’t you just done it?” 

“I don’t know!” she exclaimed, pacing back and forth in Cana’s bedroom. “I don’t know! I just…  _ Argh.”  _

“You’re  _ going _ to ask her out,” Levy said, jumping off Cana’s bed and readjusting the wings of her fairy costume. “And I think you should do it  _ now.” _

“Now? Like right  _ now _ now?” she demanded. “I don’t want to ask her out right now! Not at this party!” 

“Well then do it  _ after _ the party,” Levy said. “You’re not going to put it off anymore. Because you’re just going to keep on and keep on, I know you are, Erza.” 

“I’m just…” She took a deep breath. “I don’t want to mess it up. She cares about me so much, I know she’ll say yes, but I want to treat her just as well as she’ll treat me, you know? It’s been  _ forever _ since I’ve dated someone! I’m probably not good at it!” 

“Oh, Erza…” She shook her head. “People really wouldn’t assume you’re one to overthink things, but you really are. You are  _ basically _ already dating her! You sleep together, you do everything together, you’ve  _ kissed, _ you just need to have that little conversation that makes it official!” 

“I… I guess you are right…” she relented. 

“Erza?” 

Erza jumped and squeaked. “Mira! I thought you were downstairs!” 

“Gray said I should come talk to you?” she said, tilting her head to the side. 

Erza grit her teeth. “Of course he did.” Maybe she preferred Gray  _ not _ trying to get them together. 

Levy flashed her a smile, before darting out the door and past Mirajane. 

“So… Mira…” Erza began awkwardly. Realistically, she  _ knew _ Levy was right. It was just a simple question, right? Just a little clarification, so they could actually just call each other girlfriends, right? 

Mirajane clutched handfuls of her costume, raised her chin, and blurted out, “Erza, I want to ask you out!” 

Erza froze, blinked a few times, and tried to process what the demon had just said. “W-What?” 

“Gray said I needed to ask you out, but I should wait until he talked to you, so I want to ask you out! He said if I did we could be like the other people who date, and I wanna be like that with you!” she exclaimed, never taking her wide blue eyes off Erza. 

Erza couldn’t help it. She laughed. Mirajane just looked so determined, despite the fact that she clearly had no idea what she was doing, and she couldn’t believe Gray had been encouraging her to ask Erza out. 

“E-Erza?” Mirajane asked. 

“It’s not you!” Erza was quick to assure her. “It’s.. it’s just… I’m glad you beat me to it… I was going to… ask you the same thing… after the party.” 

“You were?” Mirajane rushed out and grabbed her hands. “That means you like me? That you really want me to stay?” 

“Of course, of course I do,” Erza said. “Honestly, I’ve wanted you to stay for a while now, I just couldn’t admit it. To myself, or anyone else. I want you to stay, and I want to learn more about this soul binding with you.” 

Mirajane pressed her forehead against Erza’s. “I’m glad I answered your call.” 

Erza smiled. “I’m glad I got you instead of some random god. I’d much rather worship you.” 

“Can we kiss again?” the demon breathed. “I liked that.” 

“Hell yes, Mira. Whatever you want.” 


End file.
